


Everlasting Flower

by taotrooper



Series: Everlasting Flower [1]
Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death Fix, Character Development, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Immortality, Manga Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-07 13:45:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 56,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4265397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taotrooper/pseuds/taotrooper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Spoilers for chapter +100] If only time came to a stop, the girl wished once. If only her lifespan could last longer, the man begged once. What if the golden god answered his prayers and granted them permission to spend his eternity together? What will she do with her timeless life? AU where Kaya is also immortal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A traveler arrives to Enri village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to my beta, Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)).

“With golden string  
our universe was clothed in light.  
Pulling at the seams,  
our once barren world now brims with life,  
that we may fall in love  
every time we open up our eyes.  
I guess space, and time,  
takes violent things, angry things  
and makes them kind.”

 **[Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOQrfLFDUKY)**  -  _Sleeping at Last_

 

* * *

 

 

The woman arrived to the village when the sun was at its highest peak in the cloudless firmament, so not a shadow was cast on the ground. Her traveling shoes sounded with every steady step she took. Her soft voice hummed an old song that had been long forgotten. Her humble cloak danced in the air around her. She was like a tiny bird wishing to perch on the branch of a withered tree.

Despite the easygoing demeanor, she looked all around her with the utmost care. This happy hummingbird was curious like an owl. She observed the poor houses and the people outside. Even though she ignored the slight stench and the filth, she couldn't help but think there was less misery than she expected. She could hear lively conversations far away. Of course, this was a good thing.

She heard a groan. Several steps away from her, a weak-looking old lady was sitting on the ground, her back leaned against a wall. The traveler ran towards her without thinking twice. She crouched in front of the elder, and then she removed her cloak's hood to make eye contact.

"What's wrong, grandmother? Are you feeling unwell?"

The traveler's face was youthful, in the ambiguous age range of a late teenager or an early adult. Short dark hair framed her head right until the jaw line. Her big eyes were full of concern and compassion.

"I see," she added after she touched the old lady's forehead with the back of her hand. "A low fever and a jaundiced skin."

She asked the old woman if she had a certain list of symptoms, and got replies with movements of the head for each of them. The traveler ruled out illnesses in her mind until it was clear which option was correct.

"I know that disease, and how to treat it. By the colors of your skin I'd say we're in time, thank the Heavens." She smiled with kindness and lit up the mood in a way that the heat of the sun could never do. "Let's get under a roof if possible. Do you have a house?"

"Yes," the lady answered, "but I don't want my grandchildren to catch it... There's a clinic, child. I just need... to get there. But I'm... My legs are weak."

"A clinic? Oh, that's perfect! Tell me where it is, and I'll carry you there."

"Oh, thank you, my dear... But can you...?"

"It's okay! I'm sturdier than I look!" The traveler grinned wider. She bent her right arm with her fist directed at her own face, as if she were showing off muscles. After chuckling, she turned around so the old lady could hug her neck and get a piggyback ride to the clinic. The girl grabbed her legs and moved according to the directions she was given, but the weight of the large bag that hung from her shoulder was screwing with her balance.

"Are you sure, sweetie?" The lady said.

"It's fine, it's fine! We can do this. We just have to walk slowly but steady." And so she continued to tread forward. "As a fellow young girl, you know how strong we can be. I'm pretty sure I'm even stronger than my man most of the time, actually."

The old lady giggled in amusement.

"Just like my late husband. The poor thing was tall and strong like a bear, but he was so weak for some things. I had to chop the wood and set the fireplace every time."

"You could chop wood, madam? With an axe?" The lady nodded, and the girl beamed wider. "You're amazing!"

"I know I am. And I did until my hips started to complain, dear."

"Ah yes, that's the problem with joints. At some point, they can get older than your heart. But when you get cured from this disease --because you will since you're a strong, beautiful lass-- I can teach you a brew made with herbs from the area that's great for those aches."

"That sounds great. I'm La-rae, by the way."

"It's a pleasure."

Good, the traveler thought. The conversation had lifted the woman's low spirits. They were still wobbling as they advanced because of the bag's weight, but the patient was distracted and happy so it was a fun ride instead of an inconvenience. Eventually the building, larger than the rest of the houses and obviously constructed too recently, was in plain sight. What surprised the traveler were the military officers moving around the area. Were they raising taxes? No, some were talking to other villagers in a friendly fashion. That was unusual.

"Is that a patient?" The traveler looked forward. The voice belonged to a soldier who ran toward them. He was a young, handsome man donning the typical armor of Fire Tribe officials and had his shoulder-length hair tied in a half bun. Bandages covered his left eye.

"Yes! She suffers from the Yinhu fever," said the traveler, "early stages. Is there a free mat for her?"

"She's in luck; one just got freed and cleaned. Let me take her from here."

The official took La-rae in his arms, releasing the traveler from the burden. She straightened up her back, stretched her arms, and rearranged her bag on her shoulders. She followed the two inside of the clinic.

 

* * *

 

Once she was in, she understood it was a government office turned into an impromptu hospital. Two rows of sick villagers lied down on the floor, while four frantic soldiers tended them. How curious. She studied the scene while the man put the lady down and covered her with a blanket. She sat next to her, opened her bag, and took a small mortar and ingredients from its inside.

"Thank you, sir. I'll work on her medicine now."

"Are you a nurse, girl?" The one-eyed man asked. Although her glance was on the mortar, she knew the whole clinic was watching her with curiosity now.

"You could say that," she smiled. "I'm a wandering healer. I'm traveling through the whole country to learn new medicines and to help others."

"Oh, I thought you were one of the doctors from Saika that Lord Tae-jun called," said another man, a black-haired officer with a round face and small eyes. "What's your name?"

"No, I'm not from Saika. And I'm Kaya!" She bowed her head while she still mashed herbs together. "I hope I'm not intruding here."

"On the contrary!" Said a different, deeper voice that belonged to a burly man with sideburns. "We need all the doctors we can have! Especially if they're cute!"

"You still miss Yoon, don't you?" Another soldier mocked.

"We all miss Yoon," said another one, "even the patients do too! I wonder where he and the dancing boy went."

"Yeah, what's up with this town and cute people showing up to help?" The one-eyed soldier mused. "First Yoon and that other guy about a week ago, now Kaya right here."

"Well, I'm not complaining!" The sideburns man laughed. "Cute people are welcome!"

Kaya smiled politely but her mind was whirling with thoughts. She knew about a Yoon who fit the description, but the name was quite common in the Fire Tribe so she couldn't be sure it was the same child. More importantly, why were soldiers in that town? Why the clinic? They had mentioned orders from someone who had to be Kan Tae-jun, the second son of the current General. She always made a point to remember the current noblemen and noblewomen's names of the Tribes she visited. But why was a noble, especially a Fire Tribe noble, interested in the health of poor people? Why were the military men so happy to oblige?

That was good news, at least! People helping people were always awesome! Nonetheless, it was an enigma. The Kan clan had been detached from the reality of their territory, yet here one of them was a philanthropist. Had it been Her doing --and thus that person named Yoon wasn't a coincidence-- or was it elaborate charity work?

Oh well, she could think about it later. The medicine was ready! It was time to give it to her lovely, strong patient. Kaya sat La-rae down and made her drink it. Fortunately they had some water, and they gladly give them some of it to pass the bitter remedy down. She left the lady lying down with a wet cloth on her forehead, who was checking out the better-looking soldiers with a discerning eye. Kaya laughed and took her bag with her. She had work to do with the other patients.

She talked to them with a jovial, optimistic tone. She hummed the old song and kept the cheerful attitude as she made new medicine and friends. The soldiers hovered here and there, but instead of getting in the way they were quite helpful. They asked about the ingredients and the preparation, eager to learn a thing or two.

That was refreshing, she thought. What a contrasting breeze with the dry heat you could find everywhere else.

 

* * *

 

About an hour later, a young man in a modest but clean outfit came in, carrying a basket of recently washed clothes and sheets. The two soldiers who weren't doing anything at the time ran to their positions. The chubby black-haired official approached him as soon as he saw him.

"Lord Tae-jun."

"Yes, Heuk-chi?"

"Kil-sung found a wandering healer who just came to the village. She offered to help us while the doctors don't arrive."

"Oh, that's great!" The man's face lit up. "Where...?"

"In here!" Kaya interrupted, and put on an innocent-looking face that showed no recognition of his identity. She stood up and went to the group of two. She made a bow. "Nice to make your acquaintance, sir. I'm Kaya. I know I seem too young, but I assure you I'm experienced in all kinds of diseases and wounds."

"How do you do?" Tae-jun said politely, staring at her. Kaya liked the shape of his earrings, the only luxury left on him. "It's okay, the boy who taught my men medicine a week ago was even younger than you, so no one will doubt your skill because of age. How much do you want as payment, Kaya?"

"Ah, I don't need payment! It's an act of love and a desire to learn from my part. I can only accept a roof to sleep under, and maybe some water to keep myself and my clothes neat so I don't spread anything."

"Are you sure? Not even food?"

"The villagers need your supplies more than me. If you can afford to feed an employee, use my ration to feed a child or two instead." After all, she didn't need food or drink to subsist. She loved eating, but she knew the value of a meal in the region and she would gladly stand the pain of hunger. If anything, she might eat something poisonous from the forest to fill her stomach. It wouldn't kill her or cause heartburn for too long.

"I see..." Tae-jun didn't seem disappointed. There was even understanding in his almond-shaped eyes. "Well, welcome aboard, Kaya. I insist you join us for dinner tonight, though."

"Master Heuk-chi hunted a bear this morning," said the youngest soldier, a boy with black hair. "We're having a stew party for the whole village." Behind him Heuk-chi nodded, his cool expression never changing, but his eyes gleamed with pride.

Kaya laughed and accepted. After all, she was intrigued to learn why a nobleman was doing laundry in the poorest parts of his father's domain.

 

* * *

 

Kaya put her scarf on before leaving the clinic. She left her cloak inside; her tunic dress and trousers were warm enough for the cold wind of the night and comfortable enough to kneel on the ground during work. The soldiers and the villagers who weren't bed-ridden were hanging out at the center of the hamlet. The man called Heuk-chi was in front of a cauldron, serving to both soldiers and civilians. Children ran around and tried to juggle tiny balls made of cloth, as parents watched over their bundles of joy. The elderly were sitting down and they chatted and enjoyed themselves.

Such a nice atmosphere.

She sat between two kids --who happened to be La-rae's precious grandchildren-- and next to a few soldiers, holding a bowl she had been offered. She put her lips on the edge and drank the stew. It tasted like heaven after so many days of roots and mushrooms for lunch. With a smile much warmer than the meal, she gave her regards to the chef. Heuk-chi just nodded as thanks. Kaya restrained the desire to eat it whole and handed it to the smallest child she saw, as she felt he needed meat the most to grow big and healthy.

"Hey, Kaya," asked the official with the sideburns. "Can you cook?"

"I can, but I'm only great at two or three recipes I really like. The rest I know, I'm average. Normally I let my husband do the cooking, 'cuz he's a bit better than me."

The man buried his face in his hands, the ribbons of his bun swaying like flags of defeat. His mates snickered.

"She's married already?! I've been rejected before I could even ask her!" He wailed.

"I'm so sorry." Kaya tried not to laugh. She patted his back in apology. "You seem sweet. It's not your fault you're late." Thousands of years late, she mentally added. "I'm sure you'll find the love of your life soon."

"What a nice, cute girl. Your guy is so lucky." He smiled back at her when he looked up and wiped his tears. "Is he at your home? Why did he let you travel alone?"

"No, we have no home." Her cheerful face didn't change, but her hands twisted her scarf. "We normally travel together, but he's at the service of his master right now. I don't want to intrude on his job yet and many places need a doctor anyway. So for the time being, I'm doing my thing and he's doing his thing. I do miss him a lot... But we can handle it!"

"And he's okay with letting you travel alone?" A villager who was listening to the conversation asked. "It's dangerous for a young lady to be on the road."

"He's aware, but I'm in equal danger no matter how many people are around me. I know self-defense and have a dagger hidden on me! I'll be fine," Kaya winked and flexed her arm. The soldiers couldn't help but swoon and call her cute once again. She giggled. Those kids were too adorable to be in the military. The little girls started to imitate Kaya's movement, and one took a tree branch as if it were a concealed blade. Oh, she was already an influence!

 

* * *

 

After supper, everyone gathered to dance and sing traditional songs of the Fire Tribe. Kaya knew the lyrics of most of them, so she joined in. It was curious how she had learned some of them centuries ago, and she hadn't sung one of them in forever, yet her brain could still recall the majority of the words immediately. She asked the guy with sideburns for a dance, as a sign of friendship. It was strange to have a partner with a pronounced height difference, but they had fun.

It was time to socialize with the young master. She found Tae-jun sitting against a tree, looking at the beautiful mountains across the horizon. The locks of long grayish brown hair that weren't tucked in his bun fluttered in the air as if mimicking the dancers on the ground. His mind was obviously elsewhere, so she cleared her throat.

"Don't you want to join in, mister?" Kaya broke into a smile.

"Eh? Kaya, was it? I'm a bit tired from the laundry and carrying the sick. Oh... although you danced. You walked today to get here and then worked hard, and you still danced. It might sound like I'm making excuses to you."

"No, not at all. Every person has their own limit. I happen to have supernatural endurance!" She hit her own chest with a fist. She sat down, legs crossed. "Master Tae-jun is amazing, though. I never thought a high-ranked official would be washing hospital clothes. It's even admirable."

"It's not. And it's not like I like doing that." He admitted. "But it must be done to keep everything clean."

"Doing things you don't like because it's the right thing is admirable, I think. May I ask why you and your troops came to Enri? Or is it top secret?"

"Ah. Ahahaha. We're... looking for a group of bandits." Tae-jun was avoiding her eyes and cackling to himself. There was something he wasn't telling. "Intel told us they were here, but they were gone before we arrived. We cannot stay in a filthy place infested of plague, so we're cleaning up while we're looking for them. That's all."

"A group of bandits? What's their name? I might've heard something in my travels."

"...The Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch."

Kaya covered her mouth to restrain a cascade of giggles, with no avail. From that bad taste in naming and the reference to dragons, she had the suspicion she knew the identity of those wanted criminals.

"D-Don't laugh!" Tae-jun cried, with an offended expression. It only made Kaya chortle harder. That boy had a hilarious demeanor. Despite his silliness, he looked a lot like his father when he was around his age, or so Kaya pondered. She remembered when she and her husband saw General Soo-jin decades ago on their journey. The resemblance was there. She would've be able to tell Tae-jun was his son just by their face, without even an introduction.

"I'm so sorry. No, it's the first time I heard that name. My man and I were in the Earth Tribe until maybe a month ago."

"It doesn't matter." He waved a hand. In the distance, everyone had started singing The Fire God. Ah, yes, that song. She really liked it, despite the hidden propaganda. She hummed it with everyone else, and so did Tae-jun. An adorable bearded old man clapped in joy.

 

_Let's call the Four Dragons_

_Bow our heads_

_Let's bow our heads_

_To the Fire Dragon_

 

"When I was little," Kaya said when the ballad was over, "kids play-pretended to be the Four Dragon Warriors and Hiryuu. It's always been a popular game in our land, hasn't it?"

"You're from the Fire Tribe, too? I thought you were Earth. Yes, when I was a boy I always wanted to be Hakuryuu. My older brother didn't want to play with me, however."

"Every boy admires Hakuryuu's arm! They fought over who got to be him. I think he was also my husband's favorite."

"Nowadays," Tae-jun sighed and flustered, "I've been admiring Hiryuu the most. But not the way Father does. I don't think he aimed for a castle or a throne..."

"You're quite sharp, young master! I agree about that vision of the Red King. A selfless leader who loved their folks is someone to respect. Hiryuu would be my second favorite, but I might be biased."

"Then what's your first favorite, Kaya?"

"Ouryuu." She stared at the green and purple mountains. They looked the same way they had been centuries ago, maybe even millennia. "No one wanted to be Ouryuu too badly in those children's games, but he's amazing to me. Because he's the Protector, the one who defends and shields what's important. We should all aim to be more like him."

"The one who protects... I see. Yes, I want to be that. Make her proud." Kaya wasn't looking at the nobleman's face, but there was an undertone of a revelation behind his words. Meanwhile, all that conversation about dragons made her heart ache. She closed her eyes and saw her love smiling at her, golden hair and eyes of summer. She felt the power of his life running through her veins, the gift and curse of infinity.

_Take this, Kaya. It's a really good medicine. They told me it will definitely cure your disease!_

It tasted like blood to her, but the panacea had been more than effective…

...

"Kaya?" Tae-jun made her wake up from her stupor by shaking her shoulder. She had even forgotten where she was. For a moment, she was back in her old hut. "Sorry, you were out of it."

"Hahaha, I guess I'm more tired than I thought I was."

"No wonder." He made a pause. "You know, I was just thinking that you seem familiar."

"I do?" She beamed, pretending naivety. "I've never met you, sir. Must be that Yoon guy that visited before I did. Your men keep comparing me to him because he was also an intelligent young nurse who came out of nowhere."

"Hmmm, I can see that. And you're almost as kind as this girl I deeply care about. But that wisdom beyond your years is more similar to this juggling brat who came with Yoon."

Kaya's grinning face blushed.

"Is that a compliment?"

"I'm not sure." Tae-jun grimaced. "He was so weird."

Zeno, she thought. That had to be her Zeno. Then the nurse lad was the one who traveled with the Princess. Lord Tae-jun had to know Her well. He had just mentioned a girl, right after discussing King Hiryuu. She wondered if this youth knew who the bandits really were. There was too much of a coincidence going on.

"I'm going ahead," Tae-jun excused himself. "Tomorrow we're checking if the village's crops can be cultivated again, so I need to go to bed early."

"Please do. Master Heuk-chi didn't let me sleep at the clinic, so I'll stay with La-rae's family in the end. Let me know if there's an emergency with the sick."

Tae-jun nodded before he left. When he was gone, Kaya stared at the tree behind her. It was one of their accorded trees. There was a chance... She stood up and checked around. She found a small parcel wrapped in paper and leaves, tied to one of the branches with thread. In another branch, someone had tied a roll of parchment. Awww. Zeno had left her a hidden letter in case she passed by the village.

Kaya would go back later to retrieve them. She couldn't wait to read about his adventures with his girl king and his baby brothers, but she wasn't in a hurry anyway.


	2. Panacea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaya is given an incredible remedy for her disease. Now that she’s cured of her imminent death, she and Zeno are truly happy. However, she can’t help but notice the medicine was far too good.

“Birds flying high you know how I feel  
Sun in the sky you know how I feel  
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel.

It's a new dawn  
It's a new day  
It's a new life for me yeah

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, oh  
And I'm feeling good”

 **[Feeling good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Y11hwjMNs)**  -  _Nina Simone_

* * *

 

 

When the man opened the doors of the hut, echoes of her cough could be heard bouncing on the already weathered walls. The cracks in the facade were a reflection of Kaya's body, which was slowly deteriorating from the inside. No matter how cozy it felt, the house was almost empty, with barely the necessities for its two inhabitants to survive modestly. Her body paused on the coughing, and she rolled on her back. She glanced at the straw ceiling. It looked robust enough for springtime, but if she made it to winter they'd be in trouble.

"Kaya, I'm back," she heard him say, and she also heard the sound of his boots falling on the floor as he took them off.

"Welcome home, Ze–  _cough cough cough_..."

Just trying to greet him proved to be too much of an effort. She coughed again for a while. Her spine arched slightly. Kaya gasped for air, but that only made her cough worse and she choked further. When the fit ended, she heard steel be submerged in water and a rummage of dishes. Zeno had been doing something in the corner they used as kitchen. She wondered about it, but she was wheezing and unable to speak. She stared at the ceiling again and waited, with only the usual deaf pain on her sides as company.

Minutes later, she heard soft steps and rustled clothes as Zeno approached her. The young man knelt next to her and sat on his naked heels. He held a clay teacup in his hand, with an air of anxious reverence.

"Hi there," he smiled with kindness. "Did it stop? Can you sit up? I brought you something."

"I think so..." She removed the blanket and incorporated herself. "Hello."

"Take this, Kaya. It’s a really good medicine. They told me it will definitely cure your disease!"

"You got more so soon?" She coughed twice.

"Yes. But this one is much better. Please take it." He held the cup towards the girl, expectantly.

She grabbed it. The medicine was mixed with her favorite beverage, jasmine tea, but the liquid inside was dark red instead of yellow. The delicious floral scent couldn't completely conceal a pungent yet familiar smell. Medications never tasted well, in any case. The best you can do is to swallow down as quickly as you can.

She took it in one gulp. It tasted like blood. Was it because she had just coughed some up during her fits? No, the flavor was too strong. The mix definitely had the blood of an animal as its base.

The reaction was immediate. Kaya trembled and dropped the empty cup on her lap. She felt an itch inside her throat descending to her stomach, a sensation similar to a numb limb. Then she felt it spreading out and intensifying. Her entire body, her flesh, her bones, they were burning up with inner fire. Her lungs twitched and hurt as if they were getting minced and then put together again by invisible fingers. She heard Zeno's muffled screams from very far away. She shed tears as her pupils tingled; she was unable to open her eyelids even if she wanted to. Her right arm was covered with goosebumps. Had she been poisoned? Had a medicine seller deceived Zeno?

_I don't want to die yet I don't want to die yet I don't want to die yet I don't–_

... ...

Suddenly, the blaze was gone. All the pain was gone. She slowly opened her sweet dark eyes.

Everything looked so vivid, so clear. She could really see the cracks on the opposite wall and the lines in the bamboo holding the roof together instead of the usual blurs. She had always been a little near-sighted, so this was more than strange to her. She looked at Zeno, her beautiful Zeno. She could count every eyelash of his alarmed eyes. Individual locks of that sunny hair looked more defined, more alive.

"Are you okay, Kaya?!" He cried.

She blinked, still shaken. Yes, she was. Moreover... She couldn't feel the deaf pain in her lungs anymore. Her breathing had never been better. Her body temperature was perfect. The cough seemed gone for the moment.

"I'm fine." And as she said it, her eyes widened. She somehow knew. It was impossible, and yet she knew. She was for some reason convinced she had been completely cured of her disease.

"Oh," he sighed in relief. "For a moment I thought..."

"Me too. Everything burned and I thought I'd die. But Zeno!" She chortled in excitement. "You don't understand!  _I'm fine._  I'm more than fine. I feel even healthier than I've ever been. I don't remember being like this, not even when I was little. Even the world looks different! I feel so, so good!"

Tears started to pour from Zeno's eyes like droplets of a spring drizzle. He chuckled, perhaps a bit hysterical yet gleeful. He pulled Kaya into a hug and he clung to her kimono, sobbing like a child. She felt her shoulder getting wet, but she didn't mind at all.

"It worked! Thank the Heavens! Thank the Dragon God! Oh, my dearest Kaya, I'm so...!" He couldn't continue; he choked in more happy sobs.

She started weeping with him, and yet at the same time she couldn't help but laugh and laugh. It was a miracle. How could a medicine be so good? It really had been a gift from the gods. She held her beloved's head with both of her hands, and combed the gold hair with her fingers.

They finally let go, and Zeno was beaming again, no trace of crying or redness in his eyes. They held hands and reveled in their good fortune.

"I won't be able to sleep now," she said. "I don't feel tired at all. I'm full of energy."

"Heh, but you should sleep anyway! You've had several bad nights in a row. That's okay, I'll tell you a long bedtime story or we can count sheep or we can dance until we're exhausted."

She giggled. She still couldn't believe she was cured and was going to live.

"Fine, I'll try." She stared at his enthralling face, his bright smile. She felt butterflies in her stomach. "But there's one thing I want to do now."

"What is i–?"

Kaya moved forward, her hands not leaving his, their fingers still intertwined, until her lips touched his. Their first kiss. She had longed to do this for so long, she had imagined it many times, but she never dared to put him in danger to catch the illness. As she thought she was healthy, there was no reason to keep her mouth away from Zeno.

And it seemed he was of the same opinion. After a few seconds of blinking and gaping at her spontaneous boldness, he took the initiative. He let her hands go, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her back, over and over. Every new contact of their lips was longer than the previous, more passionate. She felt her insides burning again and her heart melting, but for a different reason. Her arms surrounded his body in an embrace and caressed his back.

"Sorry," she whispered and giggled. "My mouth must taste awful because of the medicine."

"Don't be silly!" She saw he was blushing. "If it's Kaya, I don't mind."

He stroked her silky dark hair with tenderness. Once again her heart was aflutter.

"I love you more than anything on this Earth, Kaya. You know that, don't you?"

"Silly husband, why do you do this to me?" She glowed, trying not to cry again and failing. "Now I really won't be able to sleep tonight!" She threw her arms around his neck. "I love you, too!" She touched his forehead with hers, hair of night and day put together, both drunk with warmth and tears and emotions.

Suddenly life was amazing and something to look forward to.

 

* * *

 

Days passed, and the pain and the bloody coughs were truly gone, like a ghost from ancient times. Kaya could breathe normally, even after a hard work's day or trekking to the nearest mountains. The insomnia persisted, however. She found herself with an excess of energy. No matter how many activities she did during the day, she would not be tired during the night. On the following morning, she wouldn't feel bad either despite the lack of sleep.

She was healthy. Despite everything.

She spent the nights being cuddled by Zeno, while he told her incredible stories until one of them fell asleep –usually him, and she'd then rest her head over his chest to listen to his heartbeats as lullabies. When neither of them felt exhausted, they'd take the mat outside and count the stars in the sky. The air was breezy, but they'd keep each other warm. She was sure that mosquitoes had bitten her countless times; however she would find no bumps on her skin the next morning.

"What do you want to do?" Zeno asked one evening under the full moon. "You're healthy now, so you could return to your village."

"There's no one there waiting for me," she replied with a nostalgic tone. "All my family went to the Heavens. I had friends long ago, sure, but they don't remember Kaya by now. No, there's no reason to go to the village. I miss people a lot but, uh... I wouldn't feel comfortable there."

"How about moving to another village? The one where my boss lives doesn't seem too poor. I don't want to live in the same place forever," Zeno admitted, "but for a few years it should be fine."

"Maybe later," she said. "Although I do want to get a job as well, since I can work already. We can get twice the money and save up!"

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

"I get bored here when I'm alone! You know?" She put her head on his shoulder, and he caressed her hair with his unusually smooth hands. "Since I thought I was going to die, I made a list of things I wish I could've done in my lifetime. It's going to be impossible to do everything, but I'd like to follow at least one of those dreams."

"I'll make all your dreams come true!" He chuckled. "Tell me which ones do you think are within our reach."

"Let's see... I want to travel somewhere pretty. And read a book."

"That's easy." Zeno looked excited. "We can definitely do that. We can get you a book in a market when we go on the journey. Where do you want to go?"

"I get to choose?"

"It's your dream, silly wife." He closed his eyes in a toothy smirk.

"Then..." She sat up and she looked at the boy's face with some shyness. "Let's go to the sea. Or maybe a big city. Can it be a city by the sea?"

"Of course, of course! So now the new savings for your medicines will go for the travel fund."

"What's a fund?"

"Collected money for something. In this case, taking you to the sea."

"Oh, okay! That's a good idea then."

"Then it's decided. We're going to the beach."

"Yay!" Kaya raised her arms in victory, joy radiating from her face.

"Yay!" Zeno imitated her pose.

 

* * *

 

Even if her life was bliss, Kaya couldn't ignore the more obvious side-effects of the medicine. The day she decided to go to the village to hunt for a job, she stared at her own reflection in her mother's old mirror. She looked good. Better than ever, even. No bags under her eyes, or chapped lips, or pimples. Her skin had never been clearer; she saw that the few acne marks she had near her jaw were gone. That was an amazing thing.

Her mother had taught her how to sew and weave back when she was a little girl, back when they were healthy people living peacefully together under the sun. With all those years of practice, she had become capable enough to mend clothes and even make basic new ones if she had the right textiles. She had given Zeno the best shirts and trousers her late brother Kyo had left behind, after some hemming and adjusting. It's not like anyone else was going to use them anyway. Because of that experience, she first looked for a job in that field. Kaya got lucky: the village's seamstress needed extra hands and she took her in as helper.

She was happy with the job. Yoo-ki, the middle-aged lady who hired her, was demanding but she taught Kaya many things about her trade. And once her work hours were over, she would pass by the farm where Zeno labored and would wait until he was free to go. Afterwards, they would go back home together, carrying rejected vegetables if they were lucky. Even when they didn't get free food, he would take her hand and it was a nice end of the day regardless.

It was at the workshop, about a month after she recovered, that the healing happened for the first time.

Kaya was helping her boss to cut fabric into patterns. The girl took the scissors and slid them into the drawn shapes. When she moved on to the next roll of cloth, she accidentally grabbed the scissors by one of their two twin blades instead of the circular handle that joined them together. Luckily, no blood spilt on the fabric, but a nasty cut opened across the palm of her hand. It hurt a lot and she yelped.

"What's the ma–?" Yoo-ki immediately looked up from her sewing, and her eyes widened as she saw Kaya in pain and the stains on the floor. "Oh, dumb girl! Stay there, I'll look for bandages and ointment."

"Sorry, mistress Yoo-ki," Kaya apologized as the woman ran to a different room. However, before she had finished saying those words, the pain was long gone. There wasn't even the stinging feeling left. Before she could check her palm, her boss returned with the things she had fetched. She held Kaya's wrist.

"Open your hand. Let's clean the blood first."

Kaya did as she was told, and her palm and fingers were firmly rubbed with a moist cloth. It should have hurt, and yet...

"What on earth? Where is it?"

They both stared at the cleansed hand. The skin looked slightly reddened by all the scrubbing and the coloration from the bleeding, but besides that the hand was perfect.

"It... healed up..." Kaya whispered, as surprised as the woman.

"I've never seen a wound closing so fast. Maybe it wasn't as deep as we thought." Yoo-ki smirked. "Lucky you. I'll put on some ointment just in case, and then we're wiping the floor and continuing with work. You better be careful with the scissors from now on, Kaya-chan."

Kaya just nodded, unable to add anything else.

 

* * *

 

On her way to the farm, Kaya's mind drifted to every strange thing she had noticed about her body in the previous month. The excessive energy. The improved sight. Feeling rested despite only sleeping for a few hours a day. The disappearance of acne and mosquito bites. Being incredibly hale and hearty. An injury patching itself up. And for the latter, another person had seen it; it wasn't just her imagination playing tricks on her.

She made a pause to check on her right ankle. When she was seven years old, a dog had bitten her. As she expected, the scar wasn't there anymore.

She was unharmed. Despite everything.

Kaya didn't dislike it, or so she thought while she kept walking. Creepy as it was, in the end it was all positive. After being sick for so long, after feeling her death closer and closer, it was actually soothing to finally forget about those things. The only thing that bothered her was the mystery of the medicine. She was no expert, but she thought regular medications couldn't do anything like this at all. Wasn't that unnatural? If such a thing existed, only rich people or noblemen should have access to this wonder. She was just a peasant girl, and Zeno shouldn't have the means to buy that kind of stuff.

Well, that may not be true. He had that pretty gold medallion, but he was too attached to it to ever pawn it. Besides, he still had it; she had seen it hanging around his neck that same morning.

She finally reached his workplace. She leaned on the wooden fence, her arms over the transverse planks. She looked at the sharp perpendicular posts, their points aiming at the blue sky. She stood on tiptoe and reached one with an arm, grazing it softly against the sharp edge.

She quickly looked at her arm. A good piece of skin was raw and peeling off. Then she saw it happening, as fast as the blink of an eye. The peel folded back on its own and fused with the arm's skin until it was part of the tissue again. Just like with her palm, she couldn't find the wound, she couldn't see a difference from before it had happened.

As she was staring, she heard a beloved voice.

"Kayaaaaaaaa!"

 _I have to talk to him,_  she thought.  _I have to ask him what that medicine was and how he got it._

"Hey, Kaya! Kaya!"

She lowered her hand and looked up. As she opened her mouth to reply, she found herself unable to speak. Zeno had been obviously working in the fields. Kaya had seen Zeno without his shirt on several times by then. She had even undressed him while he was unconscious, before he had even met her. Technically she had seen his torso much earlier than his eyes. But there he was, shirtless, his clothes tied around his hips over the trousers like a sash. His soft pale skin was covered in sweat, and his bushy golden hair tied back in a ponytail. Why was that so attractive?

"Guess what!" He beamed at her, and that made him look even more handsome. "We're getting potatoes today! Isn't that great?"

"Uh-huh..." She felt her face burning for reasons that weren't the sunrays.

"So how was your day?"

"Um..." She had a lot to ask, but her mind was blank.

"Did something happen at work? You seem off." He frowned. That made her snap out of it enough to get her to use words.

"No, not at all! No, wait, I, uh... had some problems with the scissors, but it was nothing serious. By the way... I was wondering where you got my medicine. You know, the one that cured me? Was it too expensive?"

"Oh, that. I asked someone I knew. I made a pact with them long ago and I did a big service to them, so they decided to help us." He paused and panicked. "Why? Are you feeling unwell? Do you need more?"

"No, don't worry about it. I'm fine." She smiled. So Zeno probably didn't know anything else. There was no reason to concern him when the side effects were so far too good. "I was just afraid we were in debt."

"Nah, nothing of the sort. Anyway, I need to finish the collecting so I have to get back to work. Wait for me. We're boiling potatoes tonight!"

Zeno said good-bye by pulling Kaya closer and kissing her on the lips. The spontaneous act left her breathless. Her love ran back to the crops in playful skips. She just giggled and glanced at his lovely bare back until he was ready to go home.

She was alive. They were together. It didn't really matter that much, the origin of the medicine. Did it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! This is something I'm working hard on, I hope you enjoy it. I'm doing my best to turn Kaya into a fleshed-out character who develops as a person within the centuries, and yet you could still recognize the cute little thing she was in the manga. Hopefully I accomplish it! This is not **only** a romance with Zeno but also her story.
> 
> The updates are slow since I'm trying to get my fics beta read before I post them on AO3. Thank you to Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)) again for fixing this mess! Still, if you want to see my advances faster (but bearing with all the awful grammar/spelling mistakes), I upload the first version of every chapter on Tumblr (under [this tag](http://taotrooper.tumblr.com/tagged/everlasting-flower)). On the day I'm posting this, chapter 2 is already up over there.
> 
> BTW, [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Scissors#/media/File:Scissors_china.jpg) is how medieval East Asian scissors looked like. I can’t even write a cheesy “just kiss” fluffy piece without researching _something_.


	3. The cicada sang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The side effects of the medicine are gone, but now Kaya discovers the origin of that power during a scary emergency.

I'll never let you go  
If you promise not to fade away  
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations  
Black holes and revelations  
Our hopes and expectations  
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms  
I just wanted to hold  
You in my arms

 **[Starlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgum6OT_VH8)**  -  _Muse_

 

* * *

 

In the end, the side effects didn't last forever. About four months after Kaya had taken the strange medicine, the abnormal conditions wore off. The disease, thankfully, was still long gone. Her sight was still perfect. The old scars didn't return. However, she could feel pain and receive wounds once again. Her sleeping patterns were more constant, her excess of energy was gone, and after a day of hard work she would fall unconscious as soon as her head touched the pillow --or Zeno's shoulder, whichever was closer.

She was still healthy. For that, she was more than content. Sure, getting hurt again when she cut vegetables for dinner was annoying, but her world wouldn't end for that. She had her job, and her sweet boy, and her plans to see the sea. She had a life, she had dreams. There were better things to be thinking about.

Unfortunately for her, that strange healing effect would come back to affect them profoundly and change their situation. However, it was not about Kaya's body that time.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 It was a warm, sunny afternoon when Kaya walked down the road to the farm. The song of the cicadas gave her company. It was still too early for Zeno to finish, but she couldn't wait to get home. She was about to catch a cold and her hands were tired from work. She was looking forward to having some soup that was left over from the night before.

Suddenly, deep, angry voices interrupted the insects’ chirps and Kaya's thoughts about her hot meal. They belonged to neither the old owner of the farm or his other helper.

"I said, give us everything ya've got or your deaths will be more painful!"

Bandits. Cold sweat covered Kaya's forehead. She stopped in her steps, unsure about what to do. She kept listening.

"Grandpa, Min-yoon, stay behind me," said a voice she knew well with a tone she had never heard before.

"Zeno-kun, don't!"

"I'm not staying behind you, kid!"

 _Oh, Zeno, no._  She heard the bandits sneering at her husband's bravado, and the other men yelling at him. Her home village had been robbed a few times, and she knew that these kind of thieves would leave most people alone if they were meek. Those who fought back would face the band's wrath, which would tend to end in beatings or even fatalities.

She wished to run there. She wished to pull him away from that danger. Yet Kaya knew that by being a young girl they would have more terrible things in store for her. If those bad men saw her, she might be sold as a slave or used as a toy for their pleasure. There was nothing she could do to defend herself, and in that state Zeno would do something even rasher to protect her. They would both be assaulted and he'd certainly get killed off.

She kept listening, dread consuming her.

Running feet were joined by a battlecry resounding like thunder, but it wasn't Zeno this time.

"Min-yoon!" Two voices, youthful and old, called on. She heard hits, a thump on the ground, and even more hits from a lower level. The guy was being beaten up. Kaya was feeling sick from her stomach.

"That's enough," Zeno said, with irritation amid his serenity.

"Yes, please!" The old man cried. "I beg you! Take everything I own, but please stop it. I am so sorry for my employee's behavior."

That apology wouldn't be enough to satiate them, and she knew it. She had to hurry back to town. She had to bring help. It would be too late by the time she was back at the farm, but she had to do something. She turned on her heels and walked as silently as she could, but to her dismay a stout man ambushed her from behind a tree.

"Look what I've got here! A cute little birdie! This is our lucky day."

Kaya was in too much of a shock to even scream. She struggled away from him. She tried to reach for one of the arrows in the quiver that hung on his shoulder, to no avail. His arms were almost as thick as the rest of her body. Hot tears fell down her cheeks with no noise coming from her. The way he was holding her made it impossible for her to aim to any vital area or the always effective crotch. She couldn't find a way to get free. After some time, she stopped moving altogether, all hiccups and sobs.

"That's a good girl. You're feisty. Luckily for ya I don't like that in a woman. Ain't enough meat in your bones for my taste, either. But eh, maybe one of my brothers will like ya. Let's go to them."

She let herself be dragged while she hoped she had an opportunity to escape much later. Zeno was in her mind more urgently than her own safety, but if she tried to flee that instant the man and the others might act back violently. That miraculous medicine and all Zeno had to go through to get it would've been for nothing if she died there. She had to live somehow, if possible.

The robust man took her to the farm, to her dismay. She did not want to see how this ended. She did not want her boy to see her. It was the worst scenario. The guy leaned on the fence to watch how it went down, in a spot where the others didn't seem to see them. Counting her captor, there were three bandits. Begs had obviously not worked. The old man was kneeling down in reverence while Zeno tried to fend them off with a hoe. A slender man who was one head taller than him was approaching them with a large knife. The third man, the youngest of the group, was sitting on the injured Min-yoon while he laughed and played with his dagger.

 _Gods, please save us_ , was Kaya's wordless prayer.

Zeno managed to connect two hits, the ruffian stumbled and spat blood, and the pain made him furious. He grabbed the hoe's blade and pulls it towards him, twirling Zeno around with it. They both struggled, then with swiftness, he thrust it forward with all his strength until the wooden handle hit Zeno's jaw. The blond boy lost balance and dropped the handle and, before he could recover, the slender man held on to his hair and pulled him upward, apparently victorious.

_Oh, no no no no._

"Y'know what?" The man snarked and held Zeno tight, the lad's frowning face facing toward everyone else. "Imma kill the brat first. He pisses me off." He immediately put his knife against Zeno's neck. "Then the rest of ya."

"Please," Zeno began, keeping his cool, "if you must try to kill me, I ask you not to do it in front of the o--  _guh_!"

It happened too fast and Kaya had no time to close her eyes or look away. The knife quickly traced a steady cut across Zeno's throat; those eyes of sunny sky became cloudy as a cascade of crimson went in every direction. The man's cruel smile was as sharp as his blade. Still in the arms of a stranger, Kaya's heart broke apart and her eyes stung as the tearful river flowed and flooded. Once again she was alone, no reason to stay alive or fight at all.

"Finally! That asshole wouldn't shut his-- What's the matter with ya, Geun?"

The young criminal had started screeching in panic. His shaky hand, loaded with his weapon, was pointing at the slender one and Zeno's body. The other robber and the farmers must've turned around to see whatever was scaring him, since Kaya could hear new gasps and shrieks in chorus.

She looked up as well, in time to see Zeno's fatal injury closing up on its own. The flesh weaved itself over the gap, and not even a scar or a trace of its existence could be seen. It was as if it had never happened. Zeno's eyes had the light of life once again and he blinked a couple of times. Kaya held her breath, her mind processing the miracle.

"What? What's goin' on?" The guy asked as he was the only one who couldn't see Zeno from the front.

He couldn't expect that the young man he had just killed would suddenly move his hand towards his, grab his fist, and direct his arm with everything and knife in the direction of his own forehead with all his strength. The sharp point lodged into his skull, and the bandit lost his life before he could understand what had happened. Kaya didn't have time again to look away.

From then, it was pandemonium.

The younger guy forgot about his terror thanks to rage, and got up to run to Zeno. Not losing aloofness, Zeno removed the knife from the corpse and freed himself from the armlock. The robust guy threw Kaya to the ground to reach for his bow and arrows, and she fell flat on her chest. This had become too much for her, so she decided to shut her eyes tight and remain down there where it seemed safer. She heard the  _zoom zoom_  of flying arrows, and the  _clang clang_  of crossing blades, and more expressions of pain and terrified disbelief.

It didn't last long. She heard the squeals and steps of her kidnapper, hurrying back to the woods. Silence fell on the farm, only broken by the cicadas. Kaya opened her eyes and got up slowly. Her legs were scraped from the fall, but she was alright. The same couldn't be said about anyone else. Zeno stood up, two arrows still in his back and left side. His robes had a nasty cut drenched in blood, around where his lung should be; however, the skin you could see underneath was perfect and smooth. He was staring at the old man, who was unharmed but had wet his trousers. Min-yoon was dragging himself up. The remaining ruffian was lying on the floor, but Kaya couldn't see if he was dead or unconscious. She didn't want to know, anyway.

"How are you guys--?"

"Stay away!" Min-yoon's alarmed voice interrupted Zeno. "Don't get close to us, monster!"

"I... I just..."

Kaya bit her lip. Yes, it had been scary. Yes, the memory of the violence was fresh on her mind. Yes, she would have been as shocked if she hadn't gone through something similar herself. But Zeno had been so brave! He had saved their lives! And they were treating him like a demon instead of a hero. She had enough of that day and that farm, so she went through the fence's open door ignoring the pang of pain on her calves. During the time she took to arrive there, Zeno had ripped the arrows out of his body as if they were mere splinters. He stared at his own hands and he seemed relieved.

She didn't know what to do. Her heart wanted to hug him and sing because he was still alive. But as he noticed her coming, his wide eyes were filled with fright. He was more scared then, facing her, than when facing those men. He cared much more about her presence than the presence of blood dying his clothes red. His mouth gaped, trying to vocalize her name and ask her how and when she got there. Despite of that, she advanced, and she decided not to hug him yet.

She did, however, grab his arm and tug his sleeve.

"…Time to go, Zeno. Let's go home, please."

"Ka... ya..."

"Let's go home together, okay?" She was sobbing once again. That seemed to bring him around enough. He bowed his head as a goodbye to the others, and let himself be led out by his wife. No one said one word against it.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 They walked in silence on their way up to the hut. Kaya held on to his arm; after a minute or two she had calmed down. Zeno still acted listless, with a serious air. She hadn't seen him so quiet and grave ever since that first night when she met him. She let go the arm and went for his hand. He looked at her, amazed at the cordial human contact. She gave him a sad smile.

"Your arm's all bruised," he whispered when they arrived to their patch of land. "And you're limping."

"I am? It's okay. The guy with the bow just grabbed me but nothing else happened."

"How... much did you see?"

"When that man grabbed you and he..." She couldn't say it. "Then you stabbed him with his own knife. I didn't see the rest."

"It's bad enough," he sighed. "Were you scared?"

Kaya nodded and wiped the tears on her cheeks with her other hand.

"I was so afraid. I was sure I had lost you forever."

"....That's what worried you? But I...!"

 _He wants to say he's a monster like the farmers had said_ , she thought. Or a killer. Or both. And sure, that had been so creepy, but it was still a side of sweet, kind Zeno; a brave, otherworldly side. A life without him at all was much worse than him murdering a man for survival. But how could she put that into words he could believe?

She didn't put it into words. She just threw herself at him. He stank of death and sweat. Her hands soaked in warm blood from his back's already closed arrow wound. He didn't hug her back, but he touched her head with his in acceptance and surrender.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 Zeno took a bath first, behind the house. Kaya's mind was too busy making sense of the day to do something while she waited. When he finally went inside, he was wearing a loose robe and looking as if nothing had happened.

"Go ahead," he conceded as he sat on the floor. "You want to ask. I'm not sure I can explain it well, though."

"I'll cut to the chase, then." She took a breath. "Explain the medicine."

"Medicine?" Zeno blinked, perplexed. "You mean what, the one that cured you?" She answered with her glare. "I thought you'd ask about today first of all."

"But it's the same. Wasn't that what healed you from death?"

"I'm... not sure where you got that? It's a different thing."

"No, it's not. It must be related. Unless..."  _Oh._  "Unless you don't know about it. Look, a few months after I drank the medicine, I had all these weird side effects. It healed everything, not just my disease. I was really healthy and even scissors or knife cuts would heal up. Just like your throat. Now I'm back to normal, but this was a thing that happened. Why do you think I wasn't scared at that part of today?"

Zeno just stared at her with an unfathomable expression.

"Is that so...?"

"You also took the medicine, didn't you?" She insisted. "Zeno, it's too much of a coincidence! Please, I think I deserve to know."

"...Fine. No, it's not exactly the same, but it is related. Sorry, Kaya, I didn't know it would do that to you. From the dragon's words, I thought it would just stop you from dying over that disease. It's never been too communicative when it comes to explaining things."

"A dragon?!" Kaya's jaw dropped. "You got it from a dragon?"

"Yes... I prayed because I didn't want to lose you so young. Then it talked to me in dreams."

That was unbelievable, but wasn’t surviving a cut to the jugular just as impossible?

"The medicine tasted like blood to me. Does this healing power come from dragon blood, just like the legend of the Dragon Warriors...?"

"Er, kinda," Zeno blushed and avoided her eyes. "What you took wasn't actually blood from a dragon god. Not entirely. It was mixed with something else."

She looked at her own arm. She hadn't washed herself yet, so her hands and wrists still had some of Zeno's blood on it from the hug. Suddenly she came up with a crazy solution. Kaya hesitated, but she took her hand to her mouth, and she consumed some of the red liquid with the taste of metal. From Zeno's face it was clear she had figured it out correctly, but the real confirmation was the tingly itch, burning inside her body again. The pain in her calves was immediately gone, and the phlegm that precedes her colds and flus cleared away in her throat.

"The bruises are gone!" Zeno gasped.

"Yeah, that's what I just said. Huh. So it was your blood." She grinned. "I assumed there was some animal blood in it from the taste, and I guess I was right."

"Excuse me?" He laughed, pretending to be offended.

"You put furniture on sick people to keep them warm and wash clothes by beating them with a log. You're an animal, silly husband."

He chuckled until there were tears in his eyes. She was glad he was less tense.

"Maybe a puppy. No, after today I see you're something wilder than that. A wolf cub?"

"A dog is probably accurate. A wolf's too cool for me."

"Although really, wouldn't you be a baby dragon? You were the one who did drink the blood of a dragon god, weren't you?"

"Years ago, but..." He looked sad again.

"Now that I think about it, when I found you I thought you had a wound on your shoulder because your cloak and all your clothes were so bloodied, but I couldn't find anything later. So... It doesn't wear off on you like it happened to me?"

"No, never. Kaya, why are you so okay with all of this? You even sound cheerful."

He really was as dumb as an animal. He had a pretty face and lovely hair, and he was kind and sweet, but that boy could be so dense and stubborn.

"Because we're alive, silly dragon husband! Even if I just learned you can be scary, you make me happy." She beamed.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you," he beamed back, sweetness in his smile. "You're too cute."

"I do know. We're going to make dinner after I take a bath."

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 The next morning, when the dawn still hadn't illuminated the sky, a drumming on the doors of the cabin woke the couple up. Kaya took a longer time to be fully conscious, but Zeno sat up in alert with the first knock. As she rubbed her eyes, she noticed that he was looking for a place to hide. Unfortunately her furniture and baskets were all too small in size to contain any of them, as short as they were.

They held their breath and made no noise, in the hopes the unwanted guest would get bored and leave. Kaya's insides felt like ice. Zeno still analyzed the architecture, perhaps searching for the best option to use as a weapon.

"Kaya-chan!” a female voice implored. "It's Yoo-ki. If this is your house and you're there, please open. It's an urgent matter."

They both glanced at each other. 'My boss,' Kaya moved her lips without using her voice. Zeno shook his head, mistrustful. Kaya argued back with her stare and nodded. She got up, and he tried to grab her kimono, but she was faster. Before he could stop her, she opened one of the two doors ajar. Zeno was fully visible behind Kaya, extending his arm in vain.

The woman was alone, and she looked tense. When she saw the man behind her employee, she seemed agitated but somehow victorious at the same time.

"Good, your husband should hear this as well. I don't have much time so I'll just cut to the chase. Don't you dare come back to the workshop."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks to Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)) for the beta read! ~~I am so sorry because my grammar might be getting worse instead of improving.~~
> 
> One interesting thing about the title. I added cicadas as background in the chapter because I figured it should be summertime and that's a very anime/manga thing to do. When I was looking for a title, I thought I might play with it since I was out of ideas. For some reason, I thought all my life that cicadas were short-lived. I googled to find out the East Asian symbolism and it turns out I was wrong. As insects go, they have a quite long life! Moreover, in China (and in extension Japan) they symbolize _longevity, immortality, and rebirth_. Putting jade cicadas in tombs was even a trend. Pretty cool, huh? As soon as I read that, the title popped in on its own. Zeno, also a cicada, starts "singing" in this chapter.


	4. Escape the nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to pack their things and say goodbye to their peaceful life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)) for the beta read!

“Gotta find a way  
yeah I can’t wait another day  
ain’t nothing gonna change  
if we stay around here  
gotta do what it takes  
‘cause it’s all in our hands  
we all make mistakes  
yeah but it’s never too late to start again  
take another breath and say another prayer

And fly away from here  
anywhere, yeah I don’t care  
we just fly away from here  
our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere  
won’t let time pass us by  
we'll just fly, yeah”

 **[Fly away from here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xzDj-XOX2U)**  -  _Aerosmith_

 

* * *

 

Kaya stared at the lady in front of her, not believing what she just heard.

"...Am I fired?"

Yoo-ki sighed.

"I suppose I'm wording it wrong. I'm not firing you, exactly. Your work has been good; you're hardworking, always willing to learn from your mistakes. I have no complaints. But I came here to warn you that it's a bad idea for either of you to go down to the village at all, so I guess this means I can't offer you a job anymore."

"Is that so?" Zeno said from behind Kaya, arms crossed.

"Wait, what?" Kaya looked at both of them, struggling to understand. "Something happened at the village? Is it bandits again or...?"

"Listen," Yoo-ki rubbed her temples. "I can't have a long conversation here, exposing us all. May I come in? I wish no harm," she added, looking at Zeno right in his eyes. He nodded at Kaya, and they both stepped aside.

"Min-yoon," Yoo-ki continued as she sat on the floor, "was taken by your boss back to the village, and he told his family the whole story about the bandits. And there lies the problem. His father assembled a meeting last night because he thinks you, lad, are much more of a threat than those idiots who punched and stabbed his son. Some villagers are afraid."

"They're afraid of Zeno?" Kaya cried. "But he was a hero!"

"That's what some of us think, including old farmer Jeung. He looked a bit scared of your man, but he was sensible enough to defend him in the meeting. But too many think –Zeno-kun, was it?– is a monster or an evil spirit disguised as a human. Obviously, he shouldn't get close to the village or the farm again. Same goes to you, Kaya-chan. Min-yoon knows what you look like."

"No way..."

Kaya had a hard time comprehending the situation. It was true that Zeno had been frightening the previous day, but that was a good thing, wasn't it? Bandits wouldn't return to the area in a long time. Besides, if Min-yoon's dad only gave Zeno a chance and got to meet him, he would realize he's a generous, protective person. He could be that village's bodyguard, not their monster to hunt. That was Kaya's opinion, but Zeno changed the topic before she could voice it.

"Thank you for the heads up. Can I ask you some questions, madam?"

"Fine."

"Do you know if they know where we live?"

"I think not, unless someone followed me here. I was careful, but I can't rule that out."

"That's what I fear it might happen, actually. Could you please not come back, just in case?"

"That goes without saying. Coming here was a risk for me, too."

"Did they describe us well in the meeting? I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, so you must've picked up Kaya's description to know it was us."

"No. They know everything about your appearance, kid. Your name, too. Of course your dumb wife's told me too much about you during work, so you're lucky I'm her only friend in town. The brat didn't mention Kaya-chan's name, but he said the monster's lover is a tiny dark-haired girl. That's quite vague. But it was her talks of you plus the time with the scissors that made it obvious to me."

"Scissors?"

"Oh!" Kaya gasped. "Mistress Yoo-ki saw that a cut on my hand had healed! Sorry, Zeno! I'm so sorry!"

"They don't know yet that Kaya-chan is another of whatever the hell you are. Still, be careful."

"She's not really like me..."

"You see, when I was–"

"Kaya, don't!" Zeno gently but firmly put a hand over her mouth. "The less the nice lady knows about us, the safest it'll be for her. Got it?" Kaya nodded, surprised. Zeno let go and smiled. Yoo-ki looked at Zeno, maybe trying not to read too much into his words. "Sorry, she's new at keeping secrets."

"He's right, lass. That's information they could try to get from me, and I don't blame your sweetheart for not trusting me. Anyway, I should go before the roosters wake up and people see me. Here." The woman handed Kaya a cloth wallet with coins. "The pay for the rest of the month. A compensation for losing your job."

Everyone got up. Kaya bowed at her former employer, her dark eyes teary.

"I can't thank you enough for all of this, mistress! You're so kind!"

"I'm not. I just like you and I want to see you safe." She ruffled Kaya's hair tenderly. "Now stay low or better yet, stay away. If you have another place far from here to stay at, that would be the best. Have a good life."

"Same to you." Zeno smiled. "Thanks for everything and for protecting Kaya."

And so the seamstress, the closest to a mother Kaya had had since her own had died, left from their forest.

 

* * *

 

Kaya spent a few minutes sobbing in Zeno's arms after Yoo-ki left. Once she poured her heart and eyes out, he took a peek outside and she went to prepare breakfast. When he was satisfied, he closed the doors again and sat at the table. The rice was too salty but he said nothing about it.

"We were lucky that your boss had good intentions." He sighed, but he still ate his meal with appetite. "You can't just open the door like that in times of danger, Kaya."

"But it was the mistress," she defended herself. "I trust her."

"Well, I liked and trusted Min-yoon until yesterday. But even if she didn't bring villagers with pitchforks behind her when she knocked on our door, it's true that someone could've followed her. And she could still tell someone about this location or what she knows about you."

That was a very pessimistic approach for Kaya. She started to realize that Zeno had some trusting issues. In any case, it was time to point out the elephant in the room.

"So..." She stirred her rice. "What do we do now? We can't go back to the village anymore. Should we go to my hometown village to hunt for jobs?"

"Are you sure?" She nodded to Zeno. "But how do we explain your miraculous recovery to them?"

"With the truth," she said. "If they know you have the power of a god before something bad happens, maybe they'll believe you're not a monster."

Zeno didn't say anything, but his brow and the way he shifted uncomfortably made it clear. She had said something stupid and he didn't know how to tell her so. For some reason, Zeno wished to keep his powers a secret. They would still be a secret even from her, had those things not happened. Or maybe it was about the dragon blood? Bad people might want their hands on a cure for everything.

"I see. Forget I said anything."

"Oh, don't make that sad face, Kaya." He seemed guilty about upsetting her. "Your village is too close and word might spread to it.  We'll think of something, okay?"

They went back to their plates in silence. When they were finished, Zeno started beaming all of a sudden. He closed his eyes and showed his large but cute fangs as he smiled.

"You know what? I'm being too gloomy! We need to clear our heads! How about we take that trip to the sea sooner?"

"Do we have enough money saved for that?" She tilted her head.

"Nope! Not even adding the money for our normal expenses. But it doesn't matter. We can be like pilgrims! Do odd jobs in towns or beg for change, in order to collect what we need to eat. We can camp under the stars if we can't afford inns. It'll be an adventure!" He opened his arms wide. "And while we travel, we can think about new options for our life. Do you think it might be fun? I do!"

She understood that the 'new options' implied that he wanted to settle down somewhere else, or perhaps nowhere at all. It was true that the journey had been her idea, and she daydreamed about it often, but when she did she had a house to return to. As soon as she stepped out of the mountain, she probably wouldn't come back home again. Running away and going on holidays were not the same.

But he made it sound so romantic... And they were in danger if they stayed in that region. She had to keep Zeno and herself away from peril. Mama and Kyo would probably forgive her for abandoning their house. After all, she knew nothing about the world and she needed to open her mind, and he was probably right about change.

"It doesn't sound so bad," she grinned. "It's not like we're going to miss days of work anymore."

 

* * *

 

She was the one in charge of the baggage. Zeno had arrived to her house empty-handed, with only the clothes he was wearing that day –and his precious chain and medallion– as his belongings. As the young man packed Kyo's old spare clothes as his own, he lamented the fact he had lost his short sword somewhere in the woods, months ago.

"At least to scare bandits off or to chop wood." He sighed as he grabbed the longest knife they had. "Hey, can I take this?"

"Sure," Kaya said while she examined her dishes and cups. "We should take some of these with us. Somewhere to eat food from."

"Keep in mind we can only take what we both can carry. And neither of us is that strong."

"Two of each?"

"I guess? I've never been in this kind of journey before... with another person."

"I think we should pack a third set just in case one breaks, but we need the space for a pot, a spoon, and all the herbs and provisions we've got." Kaya frowned, her head spinning from all the decisions. Her husband was even more clueless than her in this regard. "Zeno? How did you even cook your meals when you were traveling alone in the woods?"

"I didn't," he admitted without looking at her face. "I hoped I would starve to death eventually. But turns out that hunger doesn't kill me, either."

"B-but... your stomach grumbles all the time." She imitated the groans for emphasis.

Zeno laughed, but he sounded gloomy. "I can feel hunger. I just can't die from it."

Her mind went back to that day when they had met. His eyes had opened, beautiful as the sky but darkened by sad rain clouds. He had refused to eat her rice porridge, he had said he wanted to die. Soon enough he had been accepting food and smiling back at her, so she had forgotten about that death wish. Perhaps he had as well.

"Ah!" He looked at her and he widened his eyes, as if he was reading her mind. "Don't make that face, Kaya! I don't have those desires right now. I have you now. You make me... want to live..." His cheeks turned as red as apples. Her heart beat faster. "So don't worry, alright?"

"I'm glad to hear that!" She really was. She stared at the rest of the room, trying to concentrate in the task, but it was hard. "Oh, should we take the sleeping mat with us?"

"Too large. We could take the blanket and the pillow, however."

She nodded. Zeno was still blushing. She got up and walked to him, and she wrapped her arms around him. He clung to Kaya and leaned his head against her.

"I am so, so sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to ruin your life."

"What are you talking about? It's not your fault. And it's thanks to you I still have a life, you know. You stayed, you took care of me, you cured me, you loved me. That's more blessing than ruin."

He hugged her harder as his mere reply. They remained embraced for a little longer. Packing was almost done, in any case.

 

* * *

 

The sun still wasn't at the highest peak of the sky when they were set and prepared to go. They had all their belongings crammed between two backpacks: their clothes, some appliances, their food and herbs, hygiene-related objects, and all their saved money plus Yoo-ki's purse. Zeno was wearing his old traveling cloak, knife hidden underneath and tied to his hip with his sash. Kaya had found her mother's hood, almost as good as new except for a couple of moth holes. She also wore her scarf below, and boots instead of her favorite sandals by Zeno's insistence.

"Can I have some time alone first?" she asked. "I need to say good-bye."

"Sure." He nodded. "I'll be watching the road."

Kaya walked toward the back of the house. Some feet away, she found the two rocks she had used as marks. She knelt before them and lowered her head. The sun rays felt harsher and harsher over her head.

"Mama, Kyo. Hello there. I hope you're doing well, above the skies."

She reached out with both hands, and she touched the tombstones with tenderness. The rock was hotter at contact than she expected, after the merciless heat of the early morning. Nonetheless, she kept her hand on her mother's.

"Remember my husband, Zeno? I guess you must've seen what happened yesterday from above. Please don't be angry at him. Please don't be angry at me, either. But we really, really have to leave. I can't tend your graves anymore... I don't know if I can ever come back."

She closed her eyes, trying hard not to tear up. She had to be strong. She couldn't let Zeno see her sad, otherwise he would feel guilty again.

"It's weird." She chuckled. "I've wanted to get out of this cottage for so long. When you left me and I was sick and alone here, it felt to me like a prison until the day I died. Everything reminded me of you two. But then I found him, and this became his house too. And when I wasn't sick anymore, I was free to go anywhere. But I wasn't sure... The house had all these memories of us and all those memories with him. As dirty and broken and tiny as it is, it was home. Where we spent the last years with my family, where I met my first friend who is now my love. This place was my world."

She took a deep breath. She needed to say this aloud.

"Mother. I'm sorry. I hope you don’t resent me for living longer instead of returning to you like Kyo did. I hope you don't think he's a monster like them. I hope you bless us from Heavens. I hope you're happy for your daughter. I hope... you still call me your daughter. Because you're with me all the time, mama."

She removed her reddened hand and took it to her neck. She couldn't touch her scarf because of the cloak, but she could feel its shape. When she put her hand on the other tombstone, her palm was pale again.

"Brother. It's too bad you couldn't come with us. We would've had so much fun. You wanted to get out and have adventures even more than me. I wonder if you would've gotten along with Zeno; I want to believe you would be good friends. Please watch over me and have fun with us. Please take care of mama for me.

"Father. You're not buried with mama and Kyo, but I'm sure you're together in spirit now. Are you also listening? I'll tell you the same things I told mama. Please, still consider me your daughter and bless us. And hug everyone for me."

Kaya got up and ran to the woods behind the house. She found a patch of wild flowers. She pulled up three of them, and went back to the family's improvised cemetery. She deposited one over her brother's resting place, and the rest over her mother's. She forced a last smile.

"Farewell for now."

 

* * *

 

Zeno was waiting for her, luggage at his feet and hand close to the knife, while he kept an eye in direction of the village and the farm. His expression was hard to read when he turned around.

"Ready?"

"I think so."

Each of them took a backpack and placed them over their shoulders by the straps. Kaya waited for Zeno to make the first step, as she had no idea where they were going. She hoped he did know.

"Kaya..."

"Hmmm?"

"Are you scared?"

Of course she was.  _Everything_  was scary. People were afraid of them, which for her was unthinkable. They were going to jump into the unknown, with dangers awaiting them everywhere. Her world would widen too much and she was not prepared at all.

"Yeah, but... There are scarier things than this, so I'll be brave," she replied with a grin.

 _It's true,_ she thought _. If I had died alone. If your throat had remained open and you had bled to death. I much prefer this._

He considered her words, and he sighed before he returned her grin with an amused smirk.

"There are scarier things indeed. Don't worry, Kaya. I will definitely protect you."

They held hands and walked away. His palm was warm and more pleasant than the scorching stones.


	5. On shaky ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaya and Zeno finally begin their journey, and she also begins to understand how Zeno’s powers may cause him sorrow.

“Sad eyes follow me  
But I still believe there's something left for me  
So please come stay with me  
'Cause I still believe there's something left for you and me  
For you and me  
For you and me

Hold me now  
I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking  
maybe six feet  
Ain't so far down

Please come now I think I'm falling  
I'm holding on to all I think is safe”

 **[One last breath](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnkuBUAwfe0)**  -  _Creed_

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

They had lunch once they were hours far away from the cottage and the world Kaya had ever known all her life. They sat on the grass, and a canopy of tree branches protected them from the merciless sunlight. The leaves were still green and lush, and birds tweeted to each other from unseen places.

"I can't spot a single one," Kaya said as she bit her rice ball and went back to looking up.

"I... knew someone who liked bird watching," Zeno murmured. "He was really good at it."

"That's great. My brother saw a robin nest once. My sight used to be worse before you cured me, so I never bothered. I can recognize some songs, though."

"Me too," Zeno grinned. It seemed a bit forced, but probably so was her own smile. Thinking about Kyo was painful that day. "You can teach me the ones I don't know, and I'll teach you mine as well. It'll be a fun game while we travel."

"Deal. Want more rice balls? Or more loquat juice?"

"Just the juice. Let's save the rice balls for tonight."

Kaya served more of the drink in Zeno's cup. "Look at you, all prudent. I'm sure you just want to wolf down everything."

"I do, I do!" Zeno's laugh was genuine. "But it's better to manage our rations. I'll wait patiently."

"Wow, can you do that?"

"You wound me, lovely wife. I'm actually a really patient guy. Also, is that one singing a brambling?"

"Nope, it's a rosefinch!"

They finished their meal without any more words, looking up and listening. She wondered where they were going. She had thought about dragons the night before, and she remembered tales from when she was younger. Should she suggest to Zeno that they go to the mountains, in case those stories were real?

"Are you rested now, Kaya?" Zeno got up and threw the crumbs to the ground for any bird who wanted them.

"I wasn't tired, actually." She stood up as well and dried the cups with a cloth before she put them back inside her baggage. "So, what direction are we going?"

"West," said Zeno as he pointed out with his finger.

"Really? Why west?"

"It's the closest to the coast. You can get to the sea going east, but it's too far away."

"How about north?"

"It's just the mountains. And beyond that, you leave Kouka and there's still no sea nearby... Have you ever seen a map?"

"I'm sorry, no..." Kaya shook her head. There wasn't really a reason for her or a way to ever consult one. "It's just that I remembered a story that might interest you, Zeno."

"Eh?" He put on his backpack, not without effort.

"Sometimes, these strange people would come down to my village to trade with us every now and then. Maybe they also went to grandpa Jeung and mistress Yoo-ki's village too, I don't know. They said they lived in the mountains up north but never specified where. And there were some rumors about them. Our past elder's husband used to say that their leader had only come down once, and he saw briefly his hand. It was pale, covered in snake-like scales. So some people believed that maybe that man was one of King Hiryuu's Dragon Warriors, the one with the claw. We never knew if it's true, but it's worth the..."

She stopped when she saw Zeno's face. He looked in pain, and his lips were even shaking.

"Zeno? What's wrong? I-I thought we could check it out? If a Dragon Warrior lives there, they wouldn't find you weird or hunt you as a monster. Maybe they'd let us move in and—"

"No." He avoided Kaya's eyes and started walking west. She rushed and followed him.

"Why not? Tell me."

"B-because... That guy... he's not alive anymore, to begin with." His voice was breaking.

"How do you know that?"

He kept going, looking forward. He didn't say anything, but she knew he was just ordering his thoughts or feelings. She thought she heard sobs coming from him on the meantime, but it could've been the birds or other woodland animals.

"...I went there," he finally said. "It was days before you found me."

That was new knowledge to her. Zeno had been vague about his past life; he had told her once that he had recently quit being a priest in the capital, after she had asked. Another person would have wondered about that, but she trusted him and she believed it should be true. The previous day, she had learned that a dragon god had spoken to him and even shared its blood with him. Those two things and his visit to the mysterious hidden village, they were all connected. Had he been looking for that Dragon Warrior in particular? Was that why he went to the area, and how she had found him later in the middle of the road...?

In the middle of the road... Clothes drenched in red... The hole in shirt and cloak she mended...  _Oh, no._

"Zeno, were they the ones who shot you in the shoulder?"

"...Yes."

Without stopping his march, he moved his right hand to his left shoulder, as if he was making sure the phantom wound was really gone. From behind she only saw his back covered by his large bag, and his mane of honey hair trailing in the air, but she could imagine the kind of emotions that clouded his eyes. She felt a pang of guilt, and a little anger toward those strangers who had hurt him.

"I'm really sorry... I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't apologize. You didn't know." He took a few more steps before he spoke again. "Forgive me if I was rude."

"That's okay, you weren't." She sighed and then she bounced with new enthusiasm. "You know what? Forget I said anything. Forget about them. A place that would shoot arrows at nice people is not fit to be our new home."

"It is rude and reckless, yeah," Zeno agreed with a more cheerful tone. "You deserve friendlier neighbors, Kaya. And their woods are too misty, I don't think you'd like them. Awful area, really boring! No sea whatsoever."

"Exactly! See, I think that one right now is a brambling," she changed the topic and they returned to the melodies that surrounded them as they advanced. Eventually he slowed the pace and Kaya was able to hold his hand again. His grasp was as shaky as his voice when he talked about songbirds, but he caressed her fingers and he didn't let go.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Kaya woke up in the middle of their first night outside, wrapped in a blanket. An owl hooted somewhere far away from them. The moon and stars above were covered by clouds. She should have been more tired after all that walking, and she was fine with sleeping on the ground, so why was she restless? She rolled on her pillow to look at Zeno next to her. It was too dark to see his features, but she was able to find him through his shadows and his breathing. She moved closer and focused on his face until her eyes got more used to the obscurity.

 _Were you looking for the Four Dragons, Zeno? Was that it? Did you wish to die when you couldn't meet them? What's your story? What's your sorrow? Why were you given this power?_  

She cuddled up to him carefully. Even if she could make out his hair and his closed eyes and his open mouth, he was surrounded in dimness. Everything in the woods was dim. She herself felt so dim.

_I thought I knew you better, but I don't know much about you in the end. Please shed some light on yourself, Zeno. I want to understand you. Let me be here for you._

By instinct, the young man snuggled closer in his sleep, and she smiled at the good timing. She joined him in slumber after a while.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Days passed as they marched through the peaceful forests. They gathered roots, herbs, and harmless mushrooms and berries while they walked, since food supplies were going to run low soon and Zeno said the landscape would change abruptly. He often climbed trees to see ahead of them, and picked up fresh fruit and pretty flowers for Kaya. They learned new bird songs they couldn't recognize so they came up with new silly names for them. A deer stared at them once and it skipped away from them. At night, they'd stop and light a fire, and then they stargazed until Kaya felt sleepy. That would take a good amount of time, as she once again had energy to spare.

Zeno's mood had improved, thankfully. He was once again the cheerful ray of sunshine who laughed and hummed and bounced. Kaya couldn't help but feel as upbeat as he was. They both danced in joy when they found a mellow creek in a clearing. They restocked their water skins, took a fun bath, and did their well overdue laundry. It was like the water had washed away the rest of their sadness, Kaya thought as she glanced at a wet Zeno who was splashing around and swimming with a huge grin. She remembered why she loved him so much.

But like he predicted, the landscape changed eventually. The woods were gone, and tall mountains blocked their way. It would be time to climb and use trails to surround them and get to the other side. This made Kaya nervous at first, even if their luggage was now much lighter without their heavier food supplies, even if Zeno was carrying the backpack with the kitchen appliances.

Luckily for them, they found a path upwards for most of the way, so they had little to climb. They followed it and they began to ascend. Kaya expected the change of air would affect them, but she didn't feel any different or more exhausted. They hiked the mountain around, and as anxious as she was she had to admit the views were gorgeous. The day was clear and the other peaks far away –dyed in greens and purples and browns– looked so different when seen from above. The forest trees were like toys, as if she could grab them and rip them off the ground effortlessly.

Then the trail got narrower and narrower. Soon they were treading on the ledge of the mountain, and one of them could barely fit and go through at a time.

"I'll go first," Zeno said, "just in case the land is unsafe."

"Okay."

"You know what we forgot to bring along?" He grimaced. "A rope, to tie us to each other. We'll have to get one in the next town, I suppose."

"I'm sorry, Zeno. I had plenty but it didn't occur to me."

"That's okay. I should've thought of that but I forgot, too. We probably left a lot of useful stuff back home in our hurry." He kissed her cheek and went ahead, with cautious little steps. She walked behind him, her hand firmly grabbing the rock wall. It felt raspy and unfriendly to the touch. She tried to focus on it instead of the vertigo she got from the view from the other side. She avoided looking down again.

"This part ahead doesn't look too stable." Zeno whispered from the front. "Let's be careful."

"Yeah..."

They advanced and some minutes later she heard a noise, similar to an eggshell cracking. She looked at her feet, and to her horror she saw how the ground below her was breaking apart quickly. She opened her mouth to warn Zeno, to reach out to him, but it all happened much faster than the time it took her brain to process what her eyes had seen. Everything below her boots shattered in tiny pieces, and gravity pulled her down with them. Her nails clawed the wall by instinct; unfortunately, there were no crannies to hold on to and the skin of her fingers was scratched out by its roughness. Her other arm tried to reach her husband a little too late.

Zeno turned around just as she was falling down, and his eyes and lips opened in shock as his face quickly disappeared from her line of vision. She didn't know when she started to scream in utmost fear, or when the wind started to slap her face with her own hair strands, or when the pressure pinched the walls of her stomach, or when her heart drummed a song about doom. More noises of rock giving in, and a couple of feet from her there was a blur of yellow hair and beige clothes also plummeting: Zeno hadn't escaped and the floor under him had also given in. He reached out to her when he got close, but his arm was too far away, his backpack was too heavy with the pans and dishes inside, and he plunged much faster than her. Soon he was gone and she heard awful sounds below her.

Kaya closed her eyes, and she thought it all had been too nice to be true. Beloved faces flashed in front of her. Her papa came back home after a long trip and carrying her on his shoulders. Her mama tied up a new scarf around Kaya's neck, a smile as warm as the cloth it was made of. Kyo returned from the woods, proudly holding a rabbit he had hunted for a soup for mama. Zeno held with a flower between his fingers that he had brought as a present for her. Mistress Yoo-ki made a dance of needle and white thread over her best linen.

Her body hit the ground with a thud, and the few clothes that filled her backpack offered little cushion. Her right leg cracked, her head bounced on cold stone, her vision went dark, and she lost consciousness from the unbearable pain.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"...eave me don't leave me don't leave me don't leave meeeeeee..."

Kaya blinked with much effort, but she was unable to comprehend anything around her. Sobs and begs filled her ears, aches bit her everywhere. She felt warmness and life escaping her head. The fuzzy memory of the fall returned to her, and she assumed she couldn't have much time left. But she couldn't think well enough to talk, and something hindered her movement. There was something important she had forgotten. What was it...?

Then it happened, as sudden as the accident. Her fingertips and nails itched. The broken bone from her leg moved on its own until it went back to its place, the limb mending itself. But the really shocking part was the regeneration of her head. She could feel the flesh of her brain weaving back together, and the fissures of her skull disappearing smoothly. Just like that, the pain and the clouds in her mind were gone. She blinked again and saw a bird crossing the big blue sky. Her heart still beat, her lungs still breathed.

She felt normal. She felt whole. She felt healthy. She felt alive. She felt  _wrong_. She felt nausea rising up.

As she tried to move again, she finally noticed the source of the noise and the clamp on her mobility. Zeno had been cradling her all that time. His golden mop of hair fell over his face. He was hiccupping and shaking in absolute sorrow. She had never seen Zeno in this state, and in his incoherent murmurs she heard more names she didn't know about and couldn't understand well. This fall had broken a dam of old repressed feelings inside of him. He was a mess, he was mourning her and who knew who else, and that only made her feel worse.

"Zeno..." She called, and there was bile in her throat.

He raised his head immediately and stared at her. Kaya didn't have the time to say anything to him; she pushed away from his grasp and crawled a few steps away. She then threw up all the contents of her guts. After the retches stopped, her body truly felt back to normal but she found little comfort in that. She saw a puddle of blood on the ground and a red splatter all over a rock. She caressed the back of her head, and found the same crimson splattered all over her hair and scalp. That had been her. She should have  _died_. And yet... that wasn't right. It felt even more disgusting than the vomit in front of her.

"Kaya!?"

She met his eyes, which were puffy from all the crying. She witnessed his emotions changing. The horror disappearing, the incredulity setting in, his blue eyes of sky widening in surprise, his expression relaxing in relief, and then a gleam of hope daring to appear.

"Y-yeah." She tried to clean her lips and bloody hand with her cloak. "I'm... alright." The last word weighed so much.

"But how...?"

Since her brain was working smoothly again, she knew immediately what had happened.

"Remember that I licked a bit of your blood the day the bandits attacked you? It's like the medicine —no, it  _is_  the medicine— so now I can't get hurt. I had forgotten this as well. I thought I was going to..." She shook her head and took a look at him. He had also fallen, but he must've been luckier. His trousers and cloak were dirty and there was little to no blood on him. "You are okay, right?"

Zeno tilted his head, as if he couldn't believe he was hearing. His right hand moved to his chest, around where his medallion hung.

"Uh. I crashed on my back and the backpack took most of the impact."

"Oh. Did something inside break?"

"Who cares, Kaya?" He cried. " _You_  were the broken one! It's just dishes, who cares! I thought I had lost you and I was so, so scared! Thank the Heavens." He cackled through his tears, his pointy canines visible.

_I see. He watched me 'die', just like I watched him 'die' when that guy slit his throat. Now he knows how I felt. He's so happy I'm alive, he recovered from that fright._

Her heart felt conflicted. On one hand, she was still disgusted and shaken about this healing and this near-death experience. The faces of her family had haunted her. On the other hand, being alive meant that she and Zeno —this sweet but sad man—were still together in this adventure.

She got up and walked towards him, and her leg didn't hurt at all. He also got up, laughing yet unsure of how to treat her. It was like a reflection of that day. She decided there was no point to dwelling on the bad part.

"Go ahead." Kaya nodded, with a bittersweet hint of a smile. "I'm also scared and we need to get over this, to make sure I'm still here."

He didn't embrace her immediately. He passed his hands over her face, the back of her head and the sticky blood over her hair. He checked her pulse, her heartbeats, her breathing. Was he marveled, perhaps even humbled, by the miracle of her own existence? Was he drunk on his love for her? She couldn't tell, but the shine back in his eyes and these slow, gentle gestures made her soul tremble in a much better way than before. Once Zeno believed she was still real and whole, he left his precautions behind and hugged her passionately. She returned his affection with the same intensity, and now the river of many feelings ran across her cheeks. Alive and loved, both of them.

"Hey," she whispered to his ear, "Zeno."

"Yeah?"

"Your dragon powers are so gross and scary."

"You have no idea! But you know, I don't hate them today."

"Me neither... mostly. Hey, Zeno."

"Yeah?"

"Can we leave this place and go back to this when we're somewhere else? After a bath, hopefully. I'm all sticky."

"Oh, right." He let go, and his face was flustered. "I have good news, though. We're on the other side of the mountain now, so we don't have to climb again."

"Thank goodness! We can really get out of here." Kaya sighed and grabbed her backpack. He did the same with his.

"This shortcut was terrible, though."

"Terrible!" Kaya echoed and giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so much to Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)) for being an awesome beta!
> 
> I made a [freetalk post](http://taotrooper.tumblr.com/post/124721113435/wip-freetalk) about this fanfic on my blog. This includes a map for the (approximated) road Zeno and Kaya took through the chapter, plus the possible route for the rest of this trip! I also answer some questions that Tumblr friends have asked me ever since I started the fic, so you can find a FAQ of sorts in the same post. Maybe I wasn't clear enough since I was trying to reveal everything slowly, so I think it might be useful if you find Kaya's current state confusing.


	6. Journey to the west

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world awaits with new experiences when you’re traveling. Cities, marketplaces, knowledge, sunsets by the seaside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife))for the beta!

“(Together) We will love the beach  
(Together) We will learn and teach  
(Together) Change our pace of life  
(Together) We will work and strive  
  
(I love you) I know you love me  
(I want you) How could I disagree?  
(So that’s why) I make no protest  
(When you say) You will do the rest  
  
(Go West) Life is peaceful there  
(Go West) In the open air  
(Go West) Baby you and me  
(Go West) This is our destiny (Aah)”

**[Go west](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NZ04BG7TfA)**  -  _Pet Shop Boys_

* * *

 

It was dusk when they crossed the ornate gates, and they passed next to the guards with armor plates on their chest and long swords on their hips. Kaya had never seen stone walls or oak doors as high as those, and that would not be the only new thing she was going to meet during that day and the following ones. Zeno just pulled his hood over his head and soberly examined the officers. She could have sworn his back straightened up as a reflex, which was odd. Not that it mattered much, before the majesty of the entrance and everything that awaited them inside.

The girl gasped loudly once they were inside the city. It had nothing to do with the prosperous villages they had encounter on the road, which were already different to the tiny hamlets she was used to. This was in a whole new level. Dozens of solid houses and stores, with red-tiled roofs and adobe walls, stood everywhere. A monster of a building loomed atop of a hill, and she assumed it would be a castle or a mansion. Horses with their riders and animal-drawn carriages ran on pavement. People of every social status bustled with their own lives, ready to return home.

“So this is a city…” She murmured and looked at her husband. He was gently smiling at her, and he seemed much more fascinated by her awe than the place itself.

“This is a small city, actually,” he teased her. “A big one is much prettier and yet uglier. But I have the feeling this one’s got potential to be great one day.”

“How can a place be prettier and uglier, Zeno?”

“It depends on where you live, your wealth, your lifestyle. The larger the city, the worse the breach. But never mind that. Let’s go to an inn, get a real meal for once, and take a bath.”

“Oh, can we afford it?” Kaya was worried about the money, but she had never been to an inn before.

“Just one night! From tomorrow on we’ll earn our living somehow.”

 

* * *

 

Despite what Zeno said or how cheap it apparently was, Kaya was more than impressed by the room they got. It had a wooden floor. Her entire hut could’ve fit inside it, it was warmer and it had less cracks on the walls. There was even a humble clay flower pot with a pink peony in it as decoration. The huge futon smelled of old and it had several patches, but it was made of soft clothes instead of straw; it was guaranteed to be clean and free of fleas, and it was large enough for both of them. Not to mention that the inn had an indoors room dedicated to baths, and they provided nice hot water to the guests. Dinner was brought to their room afterwards by a lady, in a tray: two bowls of rice, two meatbuns, and tea of a variety Kaya had never tasted.

After her more than modest cottage, and after days in the woods, the inn was a palace.

Kaya laughed and beamed at everything. She couldn’t recall feeling this comfortable and cozy. She danced around the room still in her bathrobe, and then she rolled over the futon to test its cushiness. Zeno just stared at her while he sat on the floor with his legs crossed, amused, munching his meatbun.

“This was worth the money,” she sighed. “I feel like a princess for a day!”

“Oh, gods. Kaya, you’re too cute!” Zeno chuckled. She knew this wasn’t too impressive for the former city boy, but he still seemed genuinely glad and grateful judging by his loving face. Whether it was the warm meal or the girl’s smile or both, Kaya didn’t know. But he made the already nice chamber a brighter place.

“Cute!” she echoed from the futon, pleased with herself.

For once since the day she had fallen and broken her head, she slept soundly and without any of the nightmares that had been haunting her.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, they went to one of the two plazas that the city of Shin had. The one Zeno chose was close to the city gates, so many people passed by on their way in or out of town. The square included the city’s main well; it also had a few stone benches and some pretty blooming bushes. Other pilgrims and beggars were settled in when they arrived, but the couple still found a nice spot.

Zeno took out three colorful seed-filled balls made out of spare kimono clothes. He tossed them into the air and kept them moving. Kaya held one of their soup bowls in the meantime. Both wore their best smiles, and Zeno even hummed a song while he juggled. The children and some pedestrians would stop by to watch the show, and a few generous souls donated their extra low-valued coins to the couple’s delight. After all, Zeno’s ability was more than decent and they had adorable faces. They befriended a family of pilgrims and they often talked to them or shared food when the streets were empty. Kaya blushed when Zeno introduced her as his wife.

Kaya felt antsy. The most she could do was clapping and calling to people while Zeno handled the little sacks and danced around. Her only talent was sewing, but that could only make money if they settled down and she looked for a job in the city. She often stared at a blind beggar who was playing a musical instrument she had never seen in her life, a wooden thing with a neck and something tied to it that looked like wires or strings. If only she could sing or play music… Alas, she had no idea. And an instrument was probably worth some good money. As she was, she was useless.

So when her friends decided to beg in the second plaza and asked her to come and watch over their little sons, she didn’t mind. The boys had told her about the place that same morning and that had piqued her curiosity.

“Do you mind, Zeno? I’ll be back by sunset.”

“Okay, but don’t wander off alone,” he asked her, eyes on his juggling practice. Because of his powers, he said, his arms wouldn’t get tired. “You might get lost, or a bad person might attack you.”

“Fine, fine, you worrywart. You sure you don’t want to try your luck there? The kids told me it’s a prettier square. There’s even a statue of King Hiryuu!”

Zeno accidentally dropped a ball to the floor. He sighed and he stopped his act to grab it from the floor. He seemed off.

“Whoops… Nah,” he smiled, “I’m staying. I’ve seen enough statues and images of him. Besides, I don’t want to lose our spot here.” He resumed his tosses, but he still appeared distracted.

 

* * *

 

The central square of the city was next to a large shrine. It had less people, but it was much better kept. Besides the faithful who had to cross it to say their prayers, there were also dog owners walking their pets. This proved to be an excellent distraction for Kaya and the boys, as they all liked puppies.

After a couple of hours, she moved to see the statue. It was tall and sturdy, made with a kind of stone she didn’t recognize. It was a man wearing a detailed armor plate over his chest, with obvious dragon motifs. She thought it was astonishing and even beautiful. He was wielding a sword and a shield, the former much more elaborate than the blades on the soldiers’ hips back at the gates. His hair was long, impossibly flowing, frozen in the air as if the wind could move stone locks and keep them there for eternity. His face was quite handsome, for a statue. He had a brave expression to match the pose.

So that was the former king, the guy who united the land a few decades ago. Kaya thought that he seemed really human. The hearsay told about a crimson dragon who descended from the Heavens and turned into a man, and that was Hiryuu. The only thing that remained dragon-like was his red hair. She looked at the gray locks of the statue, and she wondered what tone of red it was. Red as a lovely carnation? Red as the sun setting down by the end of the day, all fire and warmth? Red as the blood she used to cough not long ago, as the liquid that had dripped from Zeno’s throat and the back of Kaya’s head? What kind of red was it? Was it beautiful, or was it scary?

But if the stories about the Dragon Warriors were true, then Hiryuu’s legend should be as well… Apparently King Yakshi still said so, that his father was a god. A dragon god, just like the being whose blessings had saved Kaya’s life twice and had made Zeno impossible to kill. Zeno, who had drunk dragon blood and even owned a medallion, hidden underneath his shirt, with a dragon carved on the gold.

Dragons, huh? Recently almost everything in her life was about dragons. How odd. How marvelous. How… Well, it was also confusing and creepy, but that was probably part of dealing with them. Dragons, just as scary as they are beautiful. Just like the statue’s stance. Just like her Zeno.

“Kaya-san!” One of the boys called to her. “Let’s play Dragon Warriors! We’re Hakuryuu and Ryokuryuu! Wanna be Hiryuu? We’ll fight and protect you!”

“…Sure!” She grinned at them and ran to their sides.

 

* * *

 

The nice family had left a day before them, which made Kaya feel a bit lonely. It took five days of street performance for them to believe they had enough money to get by until the next town or city, plus some extra coins. It was finally time to go to the marketplace, in order to look for supplies and one new soup bowl to replace a broken one.

Zeno had told Kaya, in the dull but warm nights back at home, about the marketplace of Hiryuu Castle Town and all the beautiful things he had seen. This city’s merchandise was not as enticing as these, but it was still an exciting sight for the girl who had never seen a formal space for commerce before. She much desired to check every stand, even those for things she had no need for or money to get them. So while Zeno shopped for food and herbs, Kaya looked for the bowl and a rope –just in case.

A stand had rolls of fabrics in almost every color, and the expensive ones even had lovely patterns and designs that would have made mistress Yoo-ki sigh with envy. Another stand had clothes already made, from normal linen outfits for peasants to wear to exquisite silk robes for the rich and powerful. The latter was too much for her, but she eyed a lovely lavender skirt with embroidered birds around her size and also a sash the color of a blue clear sky that might look great on Zeno. Dreaming, unlike the clothes, was free. She glanced at models of shoes she didn’t know that existed and moved forward.

She got to the pottery. Soon she found a humble bowl similar to the one that had broken and she paid for it. Besides the cheap brown clay pieces, there were transparent crystals. She had seen them in the past in her village, but her family didn’t own any. One could see how much liquid the bottles were holding, which was really nifty. The potter also showed her some dishes and vases made of porcelain. The fragile ceramic was beautiful, painted white as snow, and adorned with art in indigo: complicated flowers, flying dragons, swirly clouds, happy birds from nightingales to phoenixes, mysterious landscapes with trees and bridges and castles, elegant courtiers and waiting ladies. The art was truly amazing, and her eyes shined.

She passed by an apothecary, who was calling for clients and trying to advertise his miracle medicines. Kaya stopped and listened, but as the man mentioned headaches she felt a tickle on the back of her head. She quickly remembered she was healthy, more than healthy, and she knew no one who would need any of those drugs. Not even bandages. Not even painkillers. A weight sank in her stomach, and she felt like a stranger in this world. A passerby who pushed her out of the way reminded her she had frozen in the middle of the market.

_Maybe I should still buy something for first aid_ , she thought.  _For me, for later. This effect will wear off again. Unless…_  Unless what? What did she really want?  _That_  again, when she’s back to normal? Would Zeno…? Would she…?

She shook her head and decided not to buy medicine yet, and not to focus on that thing for now. She went to the next stands. The city turned out to be next to a group of mines, so the big hit of the Shin marketplace was the forges and the metalwork. Some stands bought and sold iron ore and other metals. Some sold weapons, knives, and armors of every sort. However, it was the jewelry what made the biggest impression. Gems of all colors shone like a starry night. Smooth stones glistened when light reflected on them. Gorgeous shapes not unlike some of the ones in the porcelain were this time molded in gold and silver and jade. And after the fancy jewelry only noblemen could possess, there were normal necklaces and bracelets made with cute beads, and also rings and lovely hairpins. There were amulets for all kinds of things. Kaya looked here and there, wonder in her stare.

“Want to buy something?” She heard Zeno’s voice behind her. He touched her face and he kissed the top of her head. “It’s alright, Kaya. Once in a while should be fine.”

“But the food rations…”

“I got everything already, here on my backpack.” He counted with his fingers. “Three bags of rice, the teas, some salt, turnips, leeks, cucumbers, onions, apples, loquats, meat, milk. We got a bit of money left. It’s not much, but for a bracelet or a cheap stone it might be enough. Did you get the other stuff?”

“Just the bowl. And well… I want to see the rest of the stands first. We might need the coins for another thing.”

“Are you sure?” Zeno tilted his head.

“Yup.” She grinned and looked at the previous stand. She pointed at it. “Oh, maybe we should save to get you a new sword!”

“I’m not going to say I haven’t thought about it,” he shrugged, “but it draws a lot of attention. The knife should be enough. And actually, I’m awful at swordfighting. I’m better at weaponless combat.” He made a pause. “Do you want a dagger for yourself? Just for show, to scare bandits or rapists off.”

“Not really.” She laughed as she shook her head. “I’d just accidentally cut myself with something sharper than a normal knife. Besides,” she added in a whisper, trying to sound fine by it, “it’s not like we can get killed off.”

Zeno’s jaw dropped and he glared at her, bemusement and then horror over his face. She took his arm and moved him out of the way.

“What?” she murmured even lower. “It’s true, right? I am invulnerable like you for a while. It’s fine.”

“I know…” he said, pain in his lips. “It’s not that. I just didn’t expect to ever hear those words from you, is all. This is something normally I would think, so… you shouldn’t…”

She lowered her head. Husbands and wives tended to have similar outlooks sometimes. And she thought they understood each other better after the damned fall. It shouldn’t matter that much, but apparently it shook Zeno deeply. She had tried to lessen his worries, but it only hurt him. Lately she kept messing up and accidentally saying things that upset him. She tried to move him to another stand which, luckily, was something she had hoped to see so the enthusiasm was real.

“Zeno, look! They have books!”

Kaya dragged him with tiny jumps. Bundles of rectangular parchment papers were sewn together. The covers of the bindings were made with a harder material she was unfamiliar with. They shared a peculiar musky smell, and a label on the front cover with words written in ink. True enigmas waiting to be solved.

“Right, right,” Zeno said, sounding lively again. “I forgot that one of Kaya’s wishes was a book. Maybe we can afford one of the thinner ones!”

“Can we?” Kaya beamed at him. They both took out their wallets, and after separating the money for the rope they counted what they had left.

“Hey, kids,” replied the shopkeeper after they were done. “You can’t afford the thick novels and the academic books, but I have a second-hand section that might work for your budget.” He pointed out at a row of books in different degrees of usage. “Choose one of these, girl.”

She thanked the polite salesman with a nod, and then she leaned to look at the books he mentioned. The scribbles in the labels were like the uncomfortable silence between strangers. She felt like the dark ink was also keeping her in the dark of ignorance. Both men were waiting for her.

“Hard to choose?” Zeno asked. Kaya sighed and breathed.

“They… all look the same to me, sorry. I don’t know what they have inside.”

Zeno’s eyes widened, and then he immediately closed them and started chuckling. Kaya thought he was mocking her, but then he raised both of his hands.

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry! I’m dumb and I didn’t notice. Let’s see…” He pointed out book by book. “This is a history book about the five tribes and their main wars before the unification. This is a cooking book, it says Seian Recipes. This is a travel guide of Kouka; they normally list cities the writer visited and they add some talk and facts about them. This is a fairy tales book for children. This…” Zeno giggled. “Oh, that brings me back! It’s the Green Anthology, an anonymous collection of poetry. Anonymous means the author didn’t sign with their name and no one knows who he or she was.” The blond man was amused. “I didn’t expect a copy to be here, although it’s getting popular in the capital. And lastly, the Lotus Bible which is a religious text, mostly sutras and prayers. I had to memorize it and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you need a cure for your insomnia.”

Kaya nodded. She finally knew what the books were about, and it was a hard choice.

“I would tell you to get the Green Anthology,” intervened the bookseller. “You won’t find it this cheap anywhere else. Maybe you won’t even find a new copy anymore because it sells like meatbuns. And a cute girl like you likes romance, right? Some of the poems are about love and– boy, please stop.” He said to Zeno, who was containing giggles in vain.

“It does sound nice,” said Kaya, as polite as it was possible while she friendly elbowed Zeno, “but are the words too hard for me?”

“Hmmmm, maybe some.” Zeno said when he stopped laughing, a smile still alive on his lips. “The history book should also be hard to understand.”

“The easiest books would be the fairy tales compilation and the cooking one,” the salesman pointed out.

“How about the travel guide?”

“They tend to be average. They have a lot of text although normally the vocabulary’s not too difficult. But if your boyfriend could stomach those sutras, he should be able to read it to you, easily. The poetry, too! Or the tales!” He turned to Zeno. “Not sure about the history book? I don’t know your reading level, boy.”

“My reading is fine, fine! It’s the explaining stuff to others where I’m not that good, but I can try.”

Kaya thought hard while the men talked. This was an important decision. They could only get one of them. She wasn’t sure if they’d ever get to save up more money for a new one, and the next time they visited the city those other books would be long gone. By that logic, the guy was right and she should pick the poems. But was that really the best book for her? When she had arrived to the city she realized she was too rustic, especially next to someone as comfortable as Zeno. She had so much to learn about so many things! Poetry was perhaps pretty, but it seemed to be a thing that cult people read and wrote for fun. She wished for knowledge, but not one arcane and useless either. Not that history wasn’t interesting, but maybe for another time and place. At the moment, what she needed… yes, that would be it. Not the easiest one for a first, but she had to make it count.

“E-excuse me!” She interrupted them. “I’d like the travel guide, please.” Both blinked, obviously not expecting that.

“Did you say the travel guide, missy?”

“Yeah. I mean,” she grinned in apology, “they’re all interesting but this one also seems to be the most useful one! I don’t know anything about the other tribes of Kouka or their important places. So I think this book can teach us a lot during our journeys.”

“Kaya,” Zeno slowly put a hand on her shoulder, “you know you can pick a book that’s not practical, right? Don’t buy it because you feel you have to. I just want to see you smile.”

She felt a little annoyed. Even if she was childish, even if people found her naive, even if she couldn’t read or write, she was a young woman perfectly capable of thinking on her own. Romantic words and stories for children and instructions to make meals were fine, sure. But why must she go with them? Because she was a girl? She wasn’t as adventurous as Kyo, but the guide was the option that made her itch the most with curiosity from the beginning.

“This is the one I like the best, Zeno. It just happens to be a practical one. What’s wrong with that?”

“T-there’s nothing wrong with that, missy!” The bookseller bounced to please her, eager to make that sale. “I didn’t mention it before, but this is a fine guide, only a few years old. It shouldn’t be too out of date. And even better, the author included maps!”

“Did you hear that, Zeno?!” Kaya gasped. “Maps! That’s amazing!”

“Alright, alright.” Zeno chuckled in defeat. “It is your choice, so go and pay the gentleman.”

“Yay!” She did so, counting the coins carefully.

“Are you disappointed she didn’t want the Green Anthology, boy?” The merchant asked with a smirk. Zeno stopped laughing and he glared at him.

She left the stand in a great mood, the book firmly embraced by her as if it were a treasure. They moved on to the tool stand to get a rope. The old smell clung to its pages, but it wasn’t displeasing at all.

 

* * *

 

They camped in the outskirts of the city that night, and it felt like forever since they last slept under trees. Having food again lifted their spirits just as much as their guts. After they had dinner, she took her new precious book out of her backpack, holding it carefully and softly. She passed the raspy pages and looked at the map and the writings; she understood neither, but that wasn’t going to stop her for long.

“Forgive me, Kaya,” Zeno bowed his head to her. “I’ve been around people who can read and write for years. I forgot that few people can–”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I should’ve mentioned it as well. You’re going to offer to teach me, right? It’ll be fun!”

He nodded and beamed, as her enthusiasm was contagious. The gold of his locks flickered as the campfire’s flames danced.

“I just regret not noticing sooner. I could’ve taught you months ago! Or even during the trip! It’ll take you a long time to even read one page of the book, sorry.”

Her heart did sink a little, but she soon shrugged it off. It’s not like she was in a hurry. They were halfway through towards their destination anyway.

“Oh well. I’ll just learn later, no big deal. Don’t feel bad, okay?”

“Okay. Let start tomorrow.” He pulled his blanket to cover them both. “Daylight should be better for reading and writing.”

“Yeah, that’s great. I’m looking forward to it. Ah!” Her smile widened. “You’re not disappointed because you really wanted to read the Green Poem Book, are you?”

Zeno rolled his eyes and pushed her body aside with his shoulder, but she could tell he wasn’t really angry. She giggled, and soon he joined and pulled her back to his side with a kiss.

 

* * *

 

They went south-west from there. The rest of the journey went more smoothly than the first half, but it went slower as well as they took their time. There were more villages and little towns on the road, and while it was harder to get more money in those humble places, their people were kinder. They would let them crash for the night in a house and sometimes they’d even give a bit of rice in exchange of Zeno’s juggling show or a couple of hours worth of work. It was nothing like Shin, but Kaya felt warm around others, during those breaks.

Every day after lunch time, Kaya received her literacy lessons from Zeno. They used earth itself and any narrow stick to practice the basic symbols and vocabulary. By the time they reached their destination, Kaya was able to write her own name, Zeno’s, her family members’, Kouka Kingdom and some of its landmarks she saw in the book’s maps. She could also read a few random words from the book, although not all in a certain sentence. Zeno often praised Kaya’s swiftness of mind, and he assured her the pace was good and she was quite clever. As a teacher he was a bit chaotic, but he cheered on her and often rewarded her advances with a kiss.

She still had nightmares sometimes, but at least her slumber was slightly deeper the more they moved around.

 

* * *

 

It was late in the afternoon when they arrived. The air carried a salty scent and a strong wind that made their cloaks flap. There was a noise that was much deeper than the flow of a riverbed, yet soft and distant enough to be like a hum. Like a flutter of wings and waterfalls at the same time. Soon enough they were standing by the top of a cliff, yet the height was not the most impressive part of the location. It was what surrounded them.

Its amount, its deep blue color, it looked nothing like any body of water Kaya had ever seen. She even had a hard time to believe it was even water at all at first, extending to infinity against an equally endless light blue sky. They stretched on and on, and the horizon was a clear line that kept both apart. She glanced around, and she saw neighboring stone cliffs kissed by the ocean. She and Zeno got closer to the edge, and she looked down with caution. The white sea foam seemed like lace sewn to the shining waves. She found the apparently tiny movements as fascinating as the impossible extension.

She made the mistake of looking closer to their cliff. Huge rocks were at the bottom. That was one fall she definitely didn’t want to go through. Her stare went back to the fluffy clouds that never touched the mother sea, then to a large white bird with long wings who dived to fish something.

“Amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing!” She kept repeating at everything. Zeno’s happy laughter rang above the roar of the ocean and the hunting bird’s battle cry. “I can’t believe we made it. Where does it end?”

“Dunno,” Zeno shrugged, “as long as the countries on the other side don’t hurt Kouka, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“It looks eternal.”

“I hope it’s not. It’s scary enough as it is. In any case,” he sat down on the ground, “sunset should be in a couple of hours. Let’s stay and wait for it. You’re going to love it!”

“Oh! Yes, let’s do that!”

She also sat and practiced her writing on the ground, particularly words like sea, water, blue, and anything similar. Soon enough, the sun descended and looked as though it was sinking down, crossing from one infinitude to the other. The sky’s orange and purple tones reflected on the sea’s surface like spilt paint. And oh, the water! The closer the sun approached, the more the waves shimmered and sparkled. She was reminded of the market stand with the jewelry, and the polished blue gems with twinkles all over the spots where the light hit them.

She let her eyes soak on the beauty, on the colors, on the light. On Zeno’s breathing, also. One sun plummeted down to give way to the night, and a second sun was lying on his stomach and playfully kicking the air with his feet. Both a blur of gold. Eventually the farthest one left, and the darkness covered both starry sky and mysterious sea. She sighed and reached for her bag since it was colder.

“Did you like it, Kaya?” Zeno said, dusting off the front side of his clothes.

“I loved it!” She smiled. “So, so pretty! Coming here was worth it. What about you, Zeno? Are you glad?”

“Yeah, same here. I’m happy.”

A grumble sounded above the waves.

“More like happy and hungry,” Kaya teased as she reached for food to cook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Green Anthology is a borrowed little concept from [MurkyMuse](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MurkyMuse)‘s genderswitch!Abi series, although it’s also a bit of a collective brainchild. So hell, it also exists in this universe in its own way. Who’s the author? The name and Zeno’s reaction should be a hint! ;) Oh, and Shin city (no pun intended) is proto-Chi’shin, in case you're wondering.


	7. Married to the sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time for Kaya to finally discover the truth about his overwhelming past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Important:** [This drabble](http://taotrooper.tumblr.com/post/120194537360/13-things-you-said-at-the-kitchen-table) I wrote a while ago has been an informal part of the EF canon for a while, so this chapter references it in a few places. It’s better to read it before so it makes more sense.
> 
> Huge thanks to Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)) for the beta!

If you'll be my boat   
I'll be your sea   
A depth of pure blue just to probe curiosity   
Ebbing and flowing   
And pushed by a breeze   
I live to make you free   
I live to make you free

But you can set sail to the west if you want to   
And pass the horizon, 'til I can't even see you   
Far from here   
Where the beaches are wide   
Just leave me your wake to remember you by

**[Boats And Birds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn4EIv1-uz0)**  -  _Gregory and the Hawk_

* * *

 

 

The pinks and purples of the sky at dawn and their reflection over the mirror of the ocean were one of Kaya's favorite sights. It sure lifted her spirits to see the sleepy port city under the sunrise right before work. She grabbed a cloth and rubbed the ship's rail until the wood shined with the early sunshine. The girl moved one step to the side and repeated until everything was properly polished. Behind her back, Zeno was cleaning the floor and a cheerful sea shanty escaped his lips. She stared at the sea for a while, on the lookout for water dragons and mer-folks, and then she knelt to help him out.

"Hey, and how about drowning?" she whispered even though the rest of the crew was too busy with the sails or at the kitchen to hear them.

"No," he shook his head. He gave it some thought, and added: "The pressure of water inside your lungs is painful, and I'd black out from exhaustion and lack of air really quickly, but it wouldn't kill me."

"Have you ever...?"

"Not with sea water." He returned to the wooden planks. Kaya decided not to ask further. The new day was too pretty to spoil it with bad memories, and the meaning of her occasional questions was just knowing what could and couldn't hurt him —and her, for the meantime. Zeno had returned to his song anyway, so she just joined and pretended the conversation didn't happen. The two men by the mast also sang, and work was made more bearable by the magic of music.

Once the ship was spotless and ready, they waited for all the passengers to be on board. There were more than average that morning so the captain was pleased. Kaya liked crowded trips: it was more entertaining to take more people, and a better income for the ferry meant a better pay. On the other hand, more passengers meant more stress when tending to them, and unwanted body odors after a long time in the sun. But she found crowds interesting to watch regardless. All sorts of men and women traveled to Bada Island every day for different reasons.

It was a fun, calm temporary job.

 

* * *

 

 

It was noon, and Zeno, Kaya, and the young man who was their immediate boss carried trays with rice balls and teacups. The ferry ride included a snack for lunch, and for extra coins the ship's cook could make something with more substance. With their best smiles on, they served those passengers who could stomach food. Kaya enjoyed this part of the trip. She moved to serve a mother and their enthusiastic young children.

"Sister," the older girl asked Kaya, "is it true the palace of the sea dragon king is hidden somewhere near Bada?"

"Sister," the younger boy intervened, "is it true it's in the bottom of the ocean and it was made out of coral and pearls?"

"Eheheh, I believe it's true!" Kaya grinned while she gave them their rice balls. The siblings reminded her of Kyo and herself when they were kids, but she couldn't dwell on how much she still missed her brother sometimes.

"Have you ever gone there or seen the king?" the girl wondered.

"No, not yet." Kaya's index finger touched her chin while she considered the answer. "I think you have to be invited first. There's a big waiting list to go in, you see. Maybe in 30 or 40 years my husband might get a letter, and only because he's friends with a sky dragon. Normal visitors take much longer to get called by his Majesty."

"Awwwww..."

"But at night everyone can see the lights of the grand doors, so it's fine! Did you and your mama come here to see them?"

"Yes!" their mom said.

"I hope you like them. Now if you excuse me."

There was always someone talking about that legend, as it was the main reason people visited Bada. At night, the water glowed in green luminescence and it was told it was the entrance to the palace. The beaches where the gleam was visible were a huge attraction all year long. Zeno didn't know if the story was real, and the captain told them it was probably a type of seaweed, but Kaya liked the idea of a court of sea gods anyway.

She advanced to the next people like a busy bee flying on the salty air. Soon a couple of murmuring voices were loud enough nonetheless to be heard from her position.

"I'm so sorry, sir, but—"

It was Zeno's voice, and there was apprehension in his tone. She looked up, and she saw a middle-aged bearded man in an expensive outfit fretting over her beloved with strangely formal manners. She got closer in order to listen better.

"Oh, I understand, my lord. It's been at least fifteen years since I last visited the royal castle, of course you would not remember me. I am Yuan, son of Yen Mon-ni. My cousin Wel-won is in court, you know, the second wife of Lord Bil?"

"Uh, no, I— Sorry, who?" The tense Zeno was attempting to smile at the passenger, but it all turned into a grimace. His forehead was sweating.

"Nevermind that. Why on Earth are you gracing this ship with your holy presence?" The man glared at the tray in Zeno's hands. "If you have nowhere else to go, surely many noblemen would feel blessed to have the chance to assist you, just in exchange of some of Heaven's wisdom, Lord O—"

" _Please, sir!_ " Zeno interrupted the man's verbosity with haste. He looked as if he wanted the sea to swallow him. When he talked again, he was using a southern accent and an innocent grin. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, mister? Zeno's just the younger son of an innkeeper of Bada. I've never met you or those fancy names in my life."

"Pardon?"

"You're confusing Zeno with someone else, sir. Please take your rice ball and enjoy the journey? Thank youuuuuu."

A woman with a lot of makeup and jewels took the offered food and elbowed the man.

"Stop bothering the servant kid, dear. Don't waste more of your time, boy, you're dismissed."

Zeno got away as fast as he could without dropping the things on his tray. The man —Lord Yen— frowned at both his wife and the blond figure.

Why had Zeno lied to that guy? He was not from Bada and that was certainly not his accent. What was going on?

 

* * *

 

 

Once the lunch hours were over, Zeno told their boss his leg hurt a lot and he asked to be put in charge of peeling potatoes and other kitchen chores. Kaya knew it was an excuse since both of his legs were as perfectly fine as the rest of his body. Was it because of that pushy lord? She had other things to do upstairs, so she left without being able to ask him.

After she had done her own chores, she hid next to the noble couple and another younger man that might've been their son or valet. She didn't have to spy for long to get new hints. They were already talking about it when she got there.

"Oh, give it a rest, Yuan. Just admit you're wrong," a female voice said.

"I am not, Ko-in." The male voice was exasperated. "That person is  _him_. I know he is."

"Are you senile so early? Let's start with the glaring obvious. Wasn't he supposed to be around your age?"

_Eh? His age...?_

"Seiryuu was born in the same year I did, so I suppose Ouryuu is one or two years younger than me. In short, yes."

_Um...?_

"That's exactly my point, you fool!" Lady Ko-in sighed. "That lad is what, 15 or 16 perhaps? He could almost be our grandson. He was a toddler fifteen years ago! Give it up, he's just a peasant brat that looks a lot like him."

Kaya heard Lord Yuan chuckle.

"No, my dear, that's precisely my point. You know nothing about Lord Ouryuu, do you?"

_...Lord Ouryuu?_ That _Lord Ouryuu, the Dragon Warrior?_  Kaya's eyes widened. She leaned closer as the voice lowered its volume.

"You see," he continued, "this is some gossip Wel-won told me a couple of times. Apparently, Lord Ouryuu was very well preserved for his age. People in court kept commenting how he looked like a teenager, even years after King Hiryuu's death. Not even a wrinkle, not even a white hair. The man seemed the same as he did when he first came to the castle, according to the elders. Whether it's Ouryuu's blood or the heavenly powers Hiryuu bestowed on him or just quite good aging, no one knows. It's baffling."

Kaya blinked several times upon this information.  _Was this true? Was Ouryuu...?_

"So yes, the fact this boy... no, this man looks everything like the young Lord Ouryuu I met years ago is actually a sound reason to believe that he is, in fact, Ouryuu."

"Let's humor you for a minute," Lady Ko-in said, "and pretend this creepy thing your vapid cousin said is true and he's eternally young because of dragon magic or something ridiculous like that. Why is he, Kouka's most influential man after King Yakshi, on a ferry to an island instead of Hiryuu Castle? And working like plebe, even!"

"That part about the work I do not know!" He hit his fist against his palm. "But I heard news that Lord Ouryuu left the capital months ago, emulating the other Dragon Warriors."

"What?"

"I've heard the same news before, mother," the other man said. "He just named a new high priest to take his place and disappeared."

"So really, there are more reasons to believe he is Ouryuu than not," Yuan nodded.

Kaya forgot how to breathe, and her heart was beating fast. That was... well, it wasn't really insane. That was the problem. It was too plausible, even if the powers of Ouryuu she had heard in legends didn't match Zeno's. There was a difference between a body that couldn't get hurt and a body that couldn't remain hurt. But then... it was still about whole bodies instead of body parts, and sometimes stories changed when people told them again and again.

And Zeno was avoiding that guy and he had lied to him... Suspicious.

"I shall confront him," said Lord Yen as he played with his beard. "I must. I shall look for him even if I have to search the entire boat. There's something strange going on, and I am getting to the bottom of this before we get to land."

_Oh, no._  Regardless of the truth, Zeno didn't need this guy and eventually the whole nobility of Kouka looking for him. What could she do? How could she protect him? Yuan was already looking around and about to inspect farther.

She slapped her own cheeks and followed him with determination.

"Uh, excuse me, my lord?" she touched his arm with a fingertip.

"...What is it, girl?"

"I've come to..." To what, exactly? She hated doing this, but there was no choice as she had his attention. "I've come with a message from Lord Ouryuu, sir."

"What?! You have? So he is Ouryuu." He gasped and moved closer. His perfume was too strong, but she managed to concentrate in a tale.

"My... master has... left the castle with a mission. A secret mission from the dragon gods in Heaven. But in order to do it, he has to, uh, learn a lesson first here and he mustn't be bothered."

"Oh, like some trials? Learning humility and all that?"

"...Yes, like that. He's been forbidden to say who he really is, and he mustn't talk about his mission either. Please don't bother him since it's important?"

"I see! And you can't tell me anything else, lassie?"

"I'm also forbidden. This is all I can say, and only to protect the mission. But my master begs you and your family to keep quiet. If you talked, it... uh, it would be dangerous..."

"W-would the Heavens punish me if we tell someone else?" The guy looked nervous.

"I believe so." Sure, why not, since she was lying already. "Please don't spoil his mission, it's important for the fate of Kouka."

"I-I understand. My apologies to my lord, and I swear on my house's honor I shall not talk about it anymore." The noble bowed. "I will warn my wife and son."

"Thank you, sir." Kaya bowed back.

She saw the man run back, and her stomach felt stirred. She had just heard an incredible story. She had just lied to protect her husband. She didn't entirely regret it, and that was in itself odd. What was she turning into? How much would she have to deceive others? Probably a lot, if that was the truth.

She had thought Zeno was looking for the Dragon Warriors. It never occurred to her he could've been one of them. After all, she also thought he was some years older than her at most. Not old enough to be alive during Hiryuu's rule, much less before it.

What was real anymore? Those thoughts and the endless possibilities didn't leave her alone for the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

 

Kaya glanced at the window of the cabin from the dinner table where she was sitting. Among the darkness outside, the newly-familiar ghostly green glow illuminated the waves of an agitated, stormy sea. However, her mind was still wrapping around the conversation she had heard that afternoon. She was trying to distract herself with her writing exercises. She grabbed a new scrap of paper, courtesy of the captain who had heard the girl was learning how to read and write. She made the brush dance over its surface and leave its trail of liquid night. She thought the practice was helping her until she realized her papers all had the words 'yellow' and 'dragon' written over and over again.

She sighed and dipped the brush in the inkstone's reservoir.

Some time passed until she heard footsteps inside the dining cabin. She looked up, and a familiar face smiled at her. Her hand instinctively grabbed the used paper and made a ball with it.

"Everyone else went to the bar to celebrate the good work," Zeno said as he sat next to Kaya. "We're the only ones left on board again tonight."

Had it been another day, she would quickly cuddle him and kiss his face, taking the precious chance of being alone for a couple of hours. But it had been a fated day full of truths and lies and she wasn't sure how to feel. Zeno looked nervous as well.

"How's your leg?" She asked.

"Ah, I was feeling lazy. Too crowded."

"I see, I see."

She drew a few more words in silence until she was finally brave enough to pop the question.

"Hey, Zeno—"

"I want to—" He started simultaneously. They both stopped at the same time.

"You first," she said, embarrassed.

"Nah, you first."

"Okay... and how about dying of old age?"

She looked into his blue eyes. It wasn't different to the shaky waters around the pier. He closed his eyes, his face contorted in something that seemed to be sadness.

"No." His reply was resounding, straightforward, with no sense of doubt in the word.

"...Why are you so sure?"

He said nothing, and that instead said a lot. Did that imply what she thought it did?

"Go on," Zeno said, looking as old as the ocean. "Aren't you going to ask what my age is?"

"O-only if you want to say!" Kaya put her hands in front of her as a shield of sorts, with her palms toward him. "It's okay if you don't want to."

"I... don't remember exactly. Just like my name, I guess. There was no one else left to celebrate my birthdays, so I insisted to take them as a normal day of the year. It scared people out less that way. As a result, I stopped counting a few years ago."

"...Oh. That's sad. Do you remember your birth date? I want to know! We can do something special next time."

"August 30th, sorry. I guess I forgot to tell you." Zeno grinned nonetheless. Kaya pushed him with her arm and shoulder because they had missed it that year.

"Kaya... while I don't know my exact age, I'm pretty sure I must be in my early fifties now. Does that creep you out?"

That sounded about right. That lord and his wife looked around that range. Maybe if she hadn't been bracing herself all day, her feelings would've been different, but when it came to that she felt quite calm.

"Well," she teased, "I was expecting one hundred years old so that's a relief! You're half younger than I expected! Many girls my age marry older guys, so it's fine. At least my man looks extremely good. You have all your teeth and all your hair which is nice."

Zeno gaped at her, and then he couldn't help but to giggle. His youth had returned to his face and eyes.

"Don't laugh, I'm serious!" She continued and wrote the word 'old' on the scrap. "I wonder if mama in Heaven disapproves of me running off with an uncle who's older than her."

He giggled louder, and eventually he wiped a tear from his cheek.

"As expected of Kaya. But are you really okay?"

"I have to get used to it. You don't act too much like a fifty year-old, so whatever." She was tempted to ask if he was okay with  _her_  being so young, but she figured he'd avoid the answer somehow. There was still the Ouryuu thing, but she had lost most of her bravery already. "So what do you want to tell me, Zeno?"

"Ah, yeah... I want to quit this job and leave. I know you like it a lot, so we should talk it o—"

"It's okay, we can go when we're back to the continent tomorrow. We needed more savings but traveling is fun. I guess it was too much for your old legs, eh?"

He giggled again, but Kaya's brain tried to understand. He looked pretty happy the day before. Obviously the ruckus today was the cause of it. Someone important saw him and he wanted to escape.

"Hey, Zeno... If it's because of the rich lord who bothered you today, I tried to solve it. Maybe it won't work because I'm too naive, but I think there's a good chance he won't come back..."

Zeno stared at her, flabbergasted.

"Wait, what are you saying?"

She took a deep breath and told him everything. The conversation Yuan had had with his family, the alarmed impulse that had made her improvise, the look on his face when he had heard her story. Many emotions passed by Zeno's blue eyes, like ships sailing on the sea.

"I think he believed me," she finished with a meek tone. "He seemed superstitious. But if you want to leave just in case someone else hears about it, let's do that. Did I, um, mess it up more?"

Zeno glared at the ceiling.

"Mmmmaybe not. There's a smaller chance they tell it now, though. It is, fortunately, the kind of excuse that court folks would believe from priests. But Kaya... You just lied to protect me?"

"I know it's wrong, but yeah. We don't need people chasing the Ouryuu behind us, right?"  _And if you can't age, we'll end up lying and leaving places all our life, so..._

"...Right," Zeno agreed, his eyes covered by his blond fringes.

Silence befell again. Kaya doodled more words. Next to 'old', she wrote 'yellow' and 'dragon', and Zeno leaned in to read them.

"Did you believe him?" Zeno asked in a whisper. "Master Yen, I mean."

"Dunno... Your power is not the same as the one in the legend we've got, so I'm confused." Kaya turned to him and she found a serious visage, and a sea filled with fear and salt. She bit her lips. "Zeno, I will believe your version. I trust in you. Even if you want to tell me a lie or hide things from me because I can't handle the truth, I'll take it. Of course I'd prefer to know the truth from your lips. I want you to trust me as well, you know? But I'll believe in you anyway. If you insist you were just a priest and not Ouryuu, then that's the end of it. Okay? Which is it?"

Zeno's eyes were still scared, but a shy smile showed on his lips.

"...Both. I became the Royal Priest after the other three dragons left the castle. I hid things, I said half truths, but I didn't lie to you about that." He straightened his back and took his gold medallion out from underneath his shirt. "I am Ouryuu Zeno, the last remaining Dragon Warrior of the ones who served Hiryuu. I possess the immortal body of the Yellow Dragon God. This is who I am."

There it was, then. An attitude and an aura of pride and majesty surrounded Zeno as he explained his real identity. Kaya felt like crying, but she didn't. Even though she had prepared herself all afternoon to hear that, the feeling still overwhelmed her. She had picked up a myth on the road that day, a year ago or so. She had fallen in love with something beyond the earth. It was like marrying a river that was secretly a sea. What kind of an awesome and awful life had Zeno had? Her mind was blank, like a piece of unused parchment. She held the brush harder, and she wrote 'Zeno' next to 'Yellow Dragon'. She then wrote 'Dragon' once more, and then she made a pause.

"How do you write 'Warrior', Zeno?"

Zeno chuckled and made a gesture to ask for the brush. She gave it to him and watched as he drew the word that she imagined was so familiar to him. He gave back the brush. Kaya felt he was hard to read, just like the word he had written: was he sad or was he happy?

"How are you feeling, silly old dragon husband?"

"Lighter," he replied. "Like someone took a heavy weight from my shoulders. I never knew how to tell you. I tried once, you know? I think you forgot. You laughed it off. So I just talked about the altar boy and priest part of my life, without any role in the middle."

"Ah!" The memory came back to Kaya, although blurry. "You said some weird thing, yeah! I'm sorry, for not taking you seriously."

"It's okay... By then we thought you were going to die soon, so the truth might've made your disease worse. I should apologize for not telling you when you asked me about the blood medicine. I’m bad at explaining things and I didn't know how to tackle that. It's not just you. I end up deceiving or saying white lies when I'm scared or don't know what to do to help. But you're right. I should've trusted you." He glanced at her, blushing. "I hope you can forgive me one day."

"I can do that," she nodded. "I have to get used to the whole Ouryuu of the Dragon Warriors thing, and you being over fifty, but you're forgiven already."

"Am I?" He breathed out, hand over his chest and his medallion. "You're still here, even if it's too much and I'm this..."

Kaya didn't let him finish, she didn't want the sea to become stormy again. She placed the brush on the table and then she put her arms around him. In reply, he rested his forehead on one of her shoulders. Drops of the ocean fell on her bust. She held his messy golden head and, in turn, her rosy cheeks got dew over them. She wasn't sure why he was crying exactly. She wasn't sure why  _she_  was crying with him, either. Maybe his burden hadn't disappeared, maybe it had been distributed between their two backs.

And yet, there was something refreshing that excited her. The newfound sincerity. The trust. The secrets shared. The relationship had been remade into something tighter, just like their flesh regenerated after a wound. For once, she truly felt like she was on her way to being Zeno's close friend. He had been undoubtedly her best friend, but even though he had fallen in love with her, that part had always been a little one-sided until then.

Zeno stopped sobbing. He sat up straight and returned the hug. He kissed her neck and her ear with some mischief. She kept caressing his hair and back, and as she licked her dry lips she felt salt of tears just as dry.

A dumb idea crossed her mind, as she was trying to make sense of the new information.

"Hey, does this make me Lady Ouryuu?"

He chortled, just like nothing had happened and they hadn't have a heavy heart-to-heart.

"Yep, yup! You're my lady for as long as you want me. I'm yours."

He grabbed her ink-stained hands to kiss them with a reverence. Without letting them go, he joined lips with her. She gladly accepted him with a smile. The sad 'boy' that threw himself on the road, the happy husband with a sweet laughter, the high priest of Kouka, the Dragon Warrior of legend. She'd have to accept them all, just like a beach accepts all tides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkstone) is an inkstone.
> 
> 2) And yes, the Yen family is full of dumb currency puns! The unnamed son, in case someone wonders, is called ~~holla holla~~ get Dol-ah.


	8. Dancing partner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A town celebrates their festival and it’s up to a legendary Dragon Warrior to save the day with his skill set. Meanwhile, Kaya makes an important choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)) for the beta!

“A long long way to find the one  
We'll keep on dancing till she comes  
These dreams are forever  
Oh these dreams are forever  
And if you wanna wake the sun  
Just keep on marching to the drums  
These dreams are forever  
Oh these dreams are forever  
  
Angel, blossom, gunshot, dodging, dream, bright, beat, light,  
breathe, live, help, give, focus, trance, wake up, dance!”

 **[Dance or die](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzRjvX4w-NQ)**  -  _Janelle Monáe_

 

* * *

 

 

The girl was walking down the familiar street, her traveling cloak waving behind her like a banner. She passed by many houses of red rooftops and adobe walls. Every tree of the city was in bloom, and the flowers were in every color of the rainbow. On her right, a statue with long hair and impressive armor seemed to stare at her with blank stone eyes.  _So that's Zeno's master_ , she thought. She went on her way until she arrived to a larger house. She knocked and entered.

The room looked exactly like the hut where she had lived before her family became sick and had to move out of her home village. She knelt and sat in front of the low table. The man who tended the book stand in the marketplace was on the other side. After saying hi, Kaya looked down at all the books he had placed on the surface.

"Can I read all of them?" she asked. "Is it okay, mister?"

"Yes, lass! A yellow dragon paid me an entire bag of gold and told me to give them to Lady Ouryuu."

How nice of the dragon god! She could somehow read the titles of every book then, even the hard ones for scholars filed with words she had never seen. Zeno's lessons had paid off. There were stories, poems, encyclopedias, how-to books. She took a history book that was all about the Four Dragons, and she felt glad she could read tales about her man and his friends. With her other hand she then grabbed a new version of her travel guide, with twice the places to visit and with a gigantic map inside. Yes, new places to visit!

The scene changed in a blink of an eye. She was on the top of a grass-covered cliff, and the entirety of Kouka could be seen from where she was standing. Castles and towns and mountains and ships, they were all smaller than her fingernails from that height. The books were still in her hand. Someone was hugging her from behind, and she knew it had to be Zeno. Words floated over cities, spelling their names. They were probably inside the map. Handy, handy!

"Now where do we go next?" Zeno's voice was filled with laughter and songs of birds.

"Everywhere!" She opened her arms like wings.

"Oh, Kaya-chan, it's time to go home."

She lowered her arms again. The voice belonged to a woman. She was wearing her mother's kimono and her black hair was in a bun just like hers. But her face was missing skin, and its flesh was rotting in places. Next to her, a cadaverous boy dressed like Kyo with short dark brown hair.

"But mama, I have so much to do!"

"It's time to come to us above the skies. We're waiting for you. Be a good girl like your brother, Kaya-chan."

The two corpses walked towards her. Zeno had disappeared from her back. She walked backwards until she was by the edge of the cliff.

"No! I want to stay!" She pleaded.

Kyo pushed her off, regardless. Suddenly the world spun.  Up was down, down was up. The cliff was where the sky should be. While Kaya floated, she saw Zeno on the cliff again, above her head. He lowered his hand, trying to grab hers. She quickly reached up. However, shackles materialized around his wrists and ankles, chaining him to earth. His expression was horrified.

"I can't follow you!!" he cried. "I'm immortal!!"

As he said that, gravity pulled her toward the clouds under her feet. She yelled, but not as hard as Zeno.

"KAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The books slipped from her fingers. She looked up, and the landscape of Kouka turned smaller and smaller until it vanished. She looked down, and everything was cloud, everything was white and gray, everything was swallowing her.

"I don't want to diiiiiiiiiiiie!" she begged to any god who could hear her. None did, not even Ouryuu, not even Hiryuu.

Soon the clouds dissipated. At the bottom of the sky, there were large rocks expecting her fall.

Kaya opened her eyes before the thud and sat up. She was shaking and sweating.  _Not again. They're getting creepier and creepier._

Crickets chirped loudly. She looked around. She was back in the forest, under the canopy of trees. Inches next to her, Zeno dreamed and drooled with his usual dignity.

The girl lay down again, next to the man, and snuggled him. That was all the sleep she got that night.

 

* * *

 

 

The prosperous town bustled with joy and activity. The couple had just arrived a couple of days before the local harvest festival, and Zeno couldn't resist Kaya's pleading eyes when she asked him to stay until then. It had been a few years since the girl had last attended a festival, so the idea excited her.

Zeno joined the stronger men and women in the fields and, while his arms were too weak to carry much weight, he could certainly give a hand with collecting the bountiful crops. He looked like a little wheat field on his own from afar, gold sprigs of hair swaying in the wind. Friendly people patted his back by the end of the work, and there was always a family willing to invite the nice outsider boy and his girl for dinner and a night of slumber.

Kaya stayed in town and moved here and there, helping with the outfits for the dancers and musicians. She made the needle swim across skirts of multiple colors: white, red, blue, yellow, green. The details were fascinating, much more elaborate than anything her village had produced for their own festivals. The embroiderers and the other seamstresses around her, ladies of all ages and kinds, chatted and sang while they sewed and prodded Kaya to join voices with them. She was happy to oblige, thirsty for human interaction.

The morning before the festival, her body felt off and heavy somehow and she pricked her own finger with a needle. Blood was drawn. She waited for seconds, but the diminutive hole never closed. A knot formed in her throat. Glancing at the gorgeous embroidered dragons in the tunics and petticoats just made her feel more miserable. A girl a few years older than her noticed, and without asking anything else she dragged Kaya to see the dancers practice. It did the trick. Kaya once again smiled and giggled as the other girl imitated the steps.

Why substitute the anticipation of joy with all that dread? Soon she was the second one to mimic the troupe.

 

* * *

 

 

By the time the sky had dressed in colors of dusk that matched the leaves in the trees, the streets were decorated with colorful paper lanterns that hung from swinging strings. Most of the townsfolk were gathered by the entrance of the town. The women in charge of the wardrobe ran around, frantically finishing the last touches. Two of the main dancers were already dressed and ready, and a third one was putting on a white wig and mask. Kaya was helping a drummer to change, when a middle-aged lady came in a hurry. The elder confronted her.

"Roon-ba, finally! We're waiting for the twins! We can't start the procession with only three gods! Where the hell are Tan-go and Kan-kan?"

"I apologize!" she bowed. "My dumb sons caught a cold and woke up with a fever this morning. I thought I could lower it before tonight, but they're still in no condition to dance tonight."

The elder cursed under his breath, and murmurs spilled over the silence like water. Even a foreigner like Kaya could tell it was a big problem, from what she had learned about the festival after those few days. It had to be five dancers.

"Wal-tsu!" The elder made a motion with his hand, and an eager young man approached them quickly with a happy expression. "Put an outfit on right now.  What should we do? We only have one backup dancer for a god part."

"Could we postpone the festival until one of my kids gets better?" They heard Roon-ba plead.

"No can do. It must be tonight! The banquet is already served in the main square anyway. We're in trouble now... While we teach the sacred dance to someone, the gods may grow impatient and curse our lands."

"I know the dance, elder!" The girl who had consoled Kaya raised her hand. "I can be the fifth god!"

"Impossible, Sam-ba. A woman is not allowed to play the god part in the actual festival."

"Says who?!" She puffed. Kaya silently sided with her, as she had seen how good she was at dancing.

"The traditions! We can't risk the wrath of the gods!"

"Excuse me, sir," Zeno interrupted, with his goofy smile. "I know a few sacred dances myself from my days as an altar boy. Can you show me your town's real quick? Maybe I'm familiar with it!"

"Mam-bo, go ahead," the elder said after some consideration, to Sam-ba's annoyance. One of the three men, the one in all  yellow, removed his mask and headdress.

"Pay attention, kid." Kaya restrained her giggles as the guy danced. It was hard to keep a straight face when strangers referred to her husband as a boy, a lad, a kid, a brat, or a young man. Half of the time, the other person was much younger than the Dragon Warrior. Zeno would grin on reflex, and she would wonder whether he was amused or offended or both.

This time he kept a straight face, and he nodded after the demonstration was over.

"That's a variation of the equinox cleansing ceremonials, but with one step less. It's like this!" And so Zeno proceeded to do a choreography that was almost exact to the one shown, but with one more convoluted twirl by the end. Kaya felt something similar to pride. The watchers gasped in awe.

"We're saved!"

"I think he's much better than Tan-go-kun!"

"Is it okay, though? You were in the fields today so you must be too exhausted for a procession."

"I'm not tired at all anymore, don't sorry!"

The dancer called Mam-bo, however, had turned his sight on the remaining outfit in cerulean hues, and then to his own in sunshine tones. He seemed hopeful when he wrapped his arm around Zeno's shoulder.

"Hey kid, mind if we swap gods? I really wanted to be the blue dragon but the others got to choose their part first. Besides, since you're blond, you already match and you wouldn't even need to put on the wig."

"You're... asking  _me_  to be Ouryuu?" Zeno glared at the mask and the costume, and then he started to chuckle. "That's fine by me. I think that's going to even amuse the gods."

Ouryuu the dragon god, played by Ouryuu Zeno, Ouryuu's Dragon Warrior. That was the most suitable actor for the role in Kaya's opinion.

 

* * *

 

 

Music had filled the air of every person in the main square along with the smell of food and sake. Drums and bells and erhus and flutes and voices could be heard all night long and all through the town. People ate and drank and danced to their hearts' content, in joyous celebration. Kaya had joined hands with her temporary friends in a semicircle, a pretty flower crown bounding her dark locks. She laughed in delight and warmth as she tried her hardest to memorize all those dancing moves.

When the other girls left to meet their own loved ones, Kaya sought Zeno. He was easy to spot among the crowd, not only because he was still wearing the embroidered shirt and skirt of the yellow dragon god costume. A garnished wooden mask painted in golden and black, shaped like the face of a scary creature that was supposed to be a dragon, covered his face from his forehead to his nose. A toothy smile was visible, and his look made his long fangs even more animal-like. Children gathered around him and clapped while he did his juggling routine.

That was the guy she had fallen in love with, underneath the fanciness. It was incredible, that this was an immortal warrior and priest who was young during Hiryuu's reign and remained so. While the knowledge had sunk in a while ago, she would still forget sometimes and then be in awe when she recalled the fact. It was easy to forget whenever he glowed with youth and cheeriness. That night of festival, his melancholic sadness was well distracted, if not gone.

Her fingertip itched where the needle had stabbed it; even though the wound was gone, another thing had pierced her heart. She shook her head. It wasn't the night for that fear. She focused on the sounds, on his long sleeves flapping up and down, on his pretty hair, on the scent of seasoned meat and baked potatoes. She was alive  _then_.

Eventually the kids moved on, and Zeno quickly sat at a table with plenty of food. He took off the Ouryuu mask and fanned himself with it. Kaya pushed through the crowd until she was able to join him.

"Ah, there you are, Kaya! I saw you dancing with the other women." He looked up at the flowers tied to her head and raised a hand to play with her hair. "Those look so cute on you! Gods, you look so pretty tonight! Pretty, pretty."

"Me?" She blushed, slightly overwhelmed, covering his fingers with hers. "You're the one who looks all elegant and handsome. Did you dress like this in the castle every day?"

"Heavens, never! This is the craziest thing I've ever worn. So you think it looks good on me, then? It's been really fun to wear something this frilly, but it's kind of suffocating me as well."

"Oh, poor middle-aged man. Hey... how about heat, or dehydration?"

"I already told you I couldn't die from fires," he shook his head. "If that can't kill me, neither can those."

"Right, sorry. That was a dumb question." She poured two cups of sake and gave one to Zeno. She braced herself and gulped the other one. The taste was bitterer than she expected, but suddenly the world was funnier. Her laughter sounded like chimes in her own ears.

"That was enough for you tonight, silly wife, or you'll become sillier."

Kaya giggled louder, but she didn't pour more booze for herself. She tugged his arms playfully.

"Zeno, come and dance with me! Or is your hip hurting?"

"Both of my hips and also my back are killing me!" He chortled. "Kids these day and their crazy parties, honestly." He sipped his alcohol with a smile on his lips. "Of course we'll dance! I planned to ask Kaya. But I'm starving so let the Yellow Dragon have some meat first. Ribs, ribs!"

"Somehow I'm okay with that priority before me," Kaya teased back.

She shrugged and just served herself some potatoes and corn while she glanced at the party and all the merry faces. Every once in a while, a person would come to thank Zeno for 'saving the village' with a pat on his back. His cheeks would flush and he would make a bow to them, astonished but pleased with the warm attention. Then his pointy teeth would go back to chewing meat and bones like a satisfied puppy's, any refinement from decades living in a castle long gone.  _He's too cute_ , Kaya would think while she filled her stomach as well.

They spent an hour or so resting the heavy meal, and talking to the passing townspeople as if they were old friends.

"Boy, did you just chug a bottle of sake like water?" One of the farmers, a bulky friendly man who had asked to make a toast with Zeno, whistled. "You sure can hold your liquor for a weakling brat."

"It doesn't really affect me," Zeno shrugged, not without some mischief in his tone. "It takes the fun out of drinking, but this used to drive my friend Shuten insane so there's that."

"Green, right?" Kaya asked after recalling which of the Dragon Warriors he was talking about. Zeno confirmed with a nod.

"Well, I'm so jealous," the farmer grumbled. "Though my missus wouldn't like it if I could drink all night long."

"I sure wouldn't!" A round-faced lady carrying a toddler yelled from almost the other side of the square. The man winced and left the table to meet his family. Zeno and Kaya laughed, and when she turned around she found Zeno's eyes placidly affixed on her. It surprised her, as she expected him to be moping about Ryokuryuu instead.

"What? Is there potato in my face?"

"You're so beautiful tonight with the flowers and the ribbons."

"A-again with that..." Her face turned red. "Is that the sake talking?"

"I just said my body can't get drunk!" He closed his eyes and sighed. "That's my heart talking."

Her heart wasn't talking, but instead it was beating so fast that it didn't match the tempo of the drums her ears could hear. Her mouth might say so many things about him, had it found an easy way to say them. So instead, Kaya softly touched his forehead with hers.

"Will you dance with me now, handsome dragon husband?"

"Oh, right!" He kissed her forehead before standing up. "Absolutely! Let me just take off the skirt first or I'll trip on it."

Once he slipped out the long yellow piece and his old trousers remained, Kaya clasped Zeno by his hands and she pulled him to the dancing area. First they shyly followed the other couples' dance, but by the second song they were doing those trendy moves from the capital that he had taught her before. By the third song, she was just giggling and spinning while Zeno held her arm up in an arc. He grabbed her waist and tried to lift her up for a fancy dance step, but after seconds in the air her feet were back on the ground and he was catching his breath. As an afterthought, Kaya tried to do the same and was successful in heaving the man for a longer time. They laughed and hugged, not caring if people stared, and the two remained embraced even after her legs got tired and they had to sit again.

Lanterns of all colors shined above their heads, just as bright as the sparks of joy in their eyes, just as colorful as the flowers of her crown. If her heart talked, it would wish the dance could last forever.

 

* * *

 

 

When Kaya woke up the next morning, only Zeno was sitting at the house's main table. There was a teapot, a plate of rice balls, and two teacups. Zeno smiled when he saw her and quickly served tea for her.

"Good morning! The elder and his wife left early, so it's only us having a late breakfast. I guess they didn't want to wake you up."

"They're so nice," she said while she sat down in front of him. As she ate a rice ball, she saw the dragon mask from the costume on Zeno's lap. "Haven't you returned that yet?"

"Hmm? Oh! I asked the elder if I could keep it as a memento. He said it was fine since I helped so much in the harvest and dancing ceremony, and they have a whole year to make a new one in any case."

"You liked it that much, huh? Does it look like the real deal?"

"To be honest, no. It's a little ugly and it looks more like a deer or a dog than a dragon. But you know, the next time we go into a city, we might stumble again into someone who knows my face. It's a good plan, don't you think?"

"It's flashy, though. People will notice you."

"But no one will expect to see Ouryuu wearing an Ouryuu mask, much less in plain sight while juggling for some coins in the streets. It's too obvious, so no one will even see through it!"

"I hope you're right..."

Kaya drank from the cup and she refilled it to the top. This was a good chance. She had made up her mind before hitting the futon, after all. She gathered all of her courage and opened her mouth.

"Zeno, I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?" He tilted his head. She felt her face boiling, but she wasn't going to turn back. She placed the cup in front of him carefully.

"Please cut yourself and bleed on my tea," she whispered and looked at the table's surface.

"...What?"

"T-the effect wore off, so... I need to drink your blood again."

"Is... that so...?"

A moment passed, but Zeno didn't move. Kaya looked up, and her stomach stirred when she saw him biting his lip and also looking down.

"You... don't want to? But when you asked me to marry you, didn't you say you wanted to stay with me forever?" She didn't understand. He had had fun with her the previous night and called her pretty.

"And I still do!!" He met her eyes, and she saw fear and pain storming in that sky. "But wishing for that is selfish. Your forever and my forever are two different things. Don't you see? Being immortal may sound great, but it's not. I am probably trapped on Earth, unable to die, unable to move on, for all eternity. Eternity! My mind can't even wrap around it! How can I ask you to stay with me and love me for all time? Your family is waiting for you! I will be with you for as long as you live, if you allow it. But staying with me for as long as I live is endless!"

He just had to mention her family. A pang of guilt struck her chest.

"You think I haven't thought about this?" Her voice was calm but firm. "I miss them! I'll miss them just like you miss your family and your king and your brothers. I constantly dream about mama and Kyo all angry at me for wanting this, even if it's surely just in my head. Maybe I'm being a naive country girl again and I don't understand, but I want to stay even if it means I won't see them again." Her arms shook. "Immortality does scare me, but dying scares me even more." She laughed once, nervous. "How did it happen? I've been waiting to die for years. When Kyo left me alone, I thought it was fine to live for a short time and then go back to them. But now... The disease is gone. I've found love, I've seen the wide world. I've hit my head against a rock and it made me realize what dying was like. Stopping my life for real terrifies me. Going to my family terrifies me. Leaving you alone and sad especially terrifies me."

"But... you should be terrified of becoming something like me. We Dragon Warriors are monsters, Kaya, and I'm the worst one. I would be turning you into one, if I share my power with you. No, maybe you already are? Sometimes you think too much like me and say things I would have said, and this creeps me out. " He combed his hair with his fingers. "You're fine with this right now, but what if you get tired later or go through truly awful things? What if living for too long breaks your heart and you want to die? Everyone but us will pass away and change, you'll see a lot of people aging and dying. Maybe you'll hate life and Ouryuu and me, just like I resented Ouryuu for years. I can't do that to you. I want you to be happy."

Kaya couldn't help but smile. It all felt familiar. She remembered that night when she begged him to leave her house, scared of killing him eventually with her illness. She had much preferred Zeno to be away from her than going through her same pain. Wasn't that similar, perhaps?

"Zeno, you're so kind. And that's why I love you. But dear, you don't know that! We won't know until time passes. And as I see it, maybe I could be happy if I live. I've already seen people dying; I don't need to be immortal to see more. This Earth is full of terrible things. I'm sure some will upset me. But there's also so much beauty, so many good hearts. You've had sorrow, but you also had the sunsets by the sea, and last night's festival. Don't be so negative so soon."

He thought about it, and nodded reluctantly. She felt her stubbornness was finally getting through his thick skull.

"I can't offer or promise you anything," he continued, "not even a home that can last as long as us. I'm not even sure if you will age. My purpose in life is long gone, and right now I'm just living to support you, Kaya. Besides that, I don't know what to do. If you've decided to live forever just for my sake, it's going to be a little dull."

"Heh, I'm okay with that. But, um..." One of her fingers fiddled with her teacup. "You're the biggest reason, sure, but I'm also doing this for myself. I don't have a purpose either, but there's so much I look forward to! I want to travel everywhere until I know the wonderful country you and your companions protected. I want to meet new people, even if we'll be friends only for a short time. I want to learn stuff and be less ignorant; I want to read every book I can understand and afford. I want us to help others, because even something as normal as the hem of a skirt or a dance can make a difference. I want to help  _you_ , make you smile. And if I die or get sick again, I cannot do any of that. I doubt it'll be dull, especially if you're with me!"

"...Is that how you feel?" Zeno stared at her with wonder in his wide eyes, still fearful but much less so.

"Yeah." She reached his hands. "I'm selfish, too. Please think about it. Maybe this is fated, maybe the dragon god wan— Oh!"

An idea crossed her mind, and she covered her gasp with one of her hands. Zeno's eyebrows went up.

"Wait! My body still goes back to normal after four months or so, right? Maybe this is a good thing! It worries you so much that I'll get tired and wish to die one day, right? So let's do this. And whenever I have enough and want to go to the Heavens like normal humans, or if my feelings for you ever change, we will talk it over and I will stop drinking your blood. I'll be mortal again." She grinned. "Every time I renew my desire to live like you, it's my own choice. Maybe I'll last a year or a century or a thousand years or ten thousand, but it won't be something you or the god imposed on me. It's up to me and I'll never, ever blame you. Will that calm your fear? Will you please let me try?"

She felt Zeno's hand tightening against hers. His expression was inscrutable, but there were hints of drizzle in the blue. He then broke into a tender yet radiant beam.

"As expected of Kaya," he laughed. "Yup, I want to believe you're right and you're stronger than me."

His fingers let hers go, and they grabbed a knife close to the plate where the rice balls were. Without ceremony or hint of physical pain, he stabbed his own wrist and left some red liquid trickle inside her teacup. She didn't realize it when the tears crossed her cheeks, but unlike the night of his marriage proposal her happy cry was serene and silent.

Kaya took the cup and swallowed it all, a metallic taste on her tongue, with relief. The burning itch of the holy powers went across her veins. All the dread of mortality and the tension of the decision left her. Hopefully her family would forgive her, but she was yet to feel regrets. After she had drunk it, she put the cup down and she flung herself into his arms. Zeno was surprised, but soon enough he put his arms around her and buried his head on her shoulders.The dragon mask fell to the floor with a small thud.

She felt as she was once again dancing with him. Or perhaps the dance had never ended. since she could even hear his own drums.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a silly sidestory that happens immediately after this chapter! By the time I'm posting this it's on Tumblr only and it hasn't been beta read, so please forgive any errors. In case you were wondering what's up with these cinnamon rolls' sex life (or lack of it.) There's no mature content beyond heavy innuendos and a couple of dirty thoughts.
> 
> → **[Chapter 7.5: The Talk.](http://taotrooper.tumblr.com/post/129193345620/everlasting-flower-075-the-talk)**
> 
> I’ve planned this chapter’s serious conversation since the beginning, although the context/filler was heavily influenced by chapter 111 and that one festival in Kai empire. I've been building up to this moment, so I hope it works out for you guys. Random pun names are back! The theme is dance styles. Interestingly enough, rumba/rhumba is slang for party in my native country. But I digress. Confession: I almost used Walk the Moon’s Shut Up And Dance as intro lyrics.


	9. Peachy keen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the opportunity to help people in need arises, Zeno seizes it. Sometimes it’s futile, sometimes it’s not. Kaya’s heart can’t predict when it is or isn’t, and it breaks when Ouryuu’s powers only bring pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to my beta, Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)).

“It starts with a glimpse, a shimmer a shadow  
Or something I had once  
But since lost and now I  
I’ve got a feeling that I’m not complete anymore  
  
The salt in my eyes  
As I clear the border  
Imaginary lines  
Shatter & shimmer  
I get to you to ask you a question  
I get to you to find out for certain  
Are you fixin’…  
  
Don’t even tell me where we are going  
Hands over my eyes, hands over my eyes  
Don’t even tell me where we are going  
Just walk, just walk by my side”

 **[Fixin’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w0wFcByqs0)** \- _WALK THE MOON_

* * *

 

Some events come in threes.

The first time had been a chilly evening. Her brother had gone to the woods that day in search for food. Kaya stayed near the house, washing the laundry by the riverside. When she had finished and hung out the clothes in a line of rope, Kyo still hadn’t returned. She kept doing chores. She swept the hut. She cleaned the dirty clay pots. Kyo was taking his time, but she tried not to worry about it.

When the dusk wrapped the sky with violet and orange, it was hard to ignore it. Terrified, Kaya walked the road that crossed the forest. Her heartbeats were frantic. Either something wrong had happened or he had abandoned her. Neither option was comforting. She knew that area didn’t have violent bears or wolves, but accidents were still possible.

Before the shadows had devoured the way, she saw a lump on the ground, between some trees. She recognized the sepia hues of Kyo’s tunic; the boy was curled up on his side. The girl ran towards the body, absolutely scared. A few steps later, the clothes shook as their owner coughed. A wave of relief passed through her soul, but it did not last. Once she was near enough, she saw the small puddle of blood underneath his mouth.

“Kyo!!”

She grabbed his head. His dark brown locks were drenched in sweat and his forehead was burning up. Regardless of the high temperature, he couldn’t talk back because of the coughing fit. _Just like mama when she started to get worse_. Alarmed, she waited until he had calmed down and helped him to stand up. It was already dark and owls were hooting, but they both knew the way. His arm was supported by her shoulders and he still felt unnaturally feverish.

“We’re almost there, okay? Hang in there. We still have some soup from last night.”

“Sis… ter…”

“Don’t speak. Don’t worry, I can stand your weight.”

“Don’t have… much time left… do I?”

She stared at nocturnal eyes that mirrored hers, the eyes of their gone mother. His glare was filled with fear of death. It took effort not to reflect it.

“O-of course you do!” she lied, fake enthusiasm in her kind grin. “It’s just a bad day, I’m sure!”

He said nothing else that night, and his older sister’s broth and tea helped to soothe his lungs.

Despite of Kaya’s sweet care, Kyo left her months before his sixteenth birthday.

 

* * *

 

The second time was a humid afternoon. It had been raining for two days and Kaya was running low on the herbs she used for her sore throats and her fevers. She walked down the path, careful not to slip and fall down.

When she saw another beige bundle on the ground, her mind went back to that sunset when she thought she had lost Kyo. She shook her head. He was up in the Sky already. Perhaps she was hallucinating and it was a wild animal.

She saw it was the body of a person lying on the mud, wearing a traveling cloak. They were in the same position in which she had found Kyo long ago, curled up. Their shoulder was dyed in dried crimson. Long locks of the deepest tone of blond she had ever seen hid their face. When she got closer she realized that it was a young man and that he was still breathing. So he had fainted, not died.

Even though he was a stranger, even if he could catch her disease, she could not leave someone in need in the middle of nowhere. _One night only_ , she thought while she figured out a way to carry him back to her house. Perhaps just washing and mending his clothes would be okay. Sharing a hot meal was trickier, but… It had been so long since she had a conversation by the table. Maybe one night wouldn’t doom him?

It didn’t. None of their nights together doomed him. Quite the opposite of that.

 

* * *

 

The third time, however… 

The road ahead smelled of dust and peach blossoms. Above their heads, somewhere in the pink-tinted branches, the birds sang of life and love and food and nesting.

Kaya was in an excellent mood that morning. She held Zeno’s hand and swung their arms back and forth as they walked. She did imitations of the loudest bird melodies their ears met, a strange, acute echo that couldn’t hit the right notes sometimes but still did a cheerful effort. He laughed at every tweet that came out of her mouth, fangs in plain sight. It was not a mock, but a heartfelt display of his pure happiness.

Spring was her favorite season of the year. The ruthless cold melted with the snow and made way to color, to music, to sunshine, to joy in the world. It meant that they had successfully survived yet another year. During the previous spring it had been a challenge. During this one, it had been a miracle from the Heavens. The following springs, it wouldn’t matter any longer. However, it was still life and beauty all around her, and that lifted her spirits in a distinct way than the years before.

The first spring since Zeno and Kaya had left her cabin and started their journey together.

The idyllic moment did not last forever. The road ahead suddenly stank of blood and urine. Beyond their feet, from somewhere on the ground, they heard groans of pain. Not before long, they saw someone lying on the road. Kaya dropped Zeno’s hand as a weight sank in her stomach, and before she knew it her feet were already running towards the figure.

Once again she was in front of a boy, although to her surprise much younger. Ten or eleven, maybe. Underneath him there was a puddle of blood in which peach blossom petals were already floating and soaking. The kid was still breathing and moaning, but there wasn’t much time left. The gash crossed from his shoulder to his stomach.

 _Who could have done something so awful?_ Kaya’s stomach churned, and she felt both nauseous and upset. She heard Zeno’s quick pacing stopping right behind her.

“That wound… It’s just like…” he whispered.

“Zeno, hurry!” She turned around and pulled his shirt’s hem. “Give him… your medicine. Please!”

She stared at him, pleading. She was certain he would say no. She assumed he would refuse to give his blood, the gift and curse from a god, to a total stranger. She was ready to beg some more, to start thinking of arguments, promises, anything but leaving that child to his fate.

There was no need. Zeno just blinked at her, and it only took seconds to nod once and get the knife from under his cloak.

“Hold his head and raise it, carefully,” he said with a serious tone. She realized they wouldn’t be able to mix it with jasmine tea this time. She tried not to look at the kid’s trunk as she turned around him and crouched behind him. Her shoes stepped on the pool and the end of her trousers legs turned dark red.

“Hey there, sweetie,” she whispered at the boy. She got no reply; he was in too much pain. “Don’t be scared, we’re trying to help you.” She gently pulled his head up —forehead covered in sweat and blueish black hair sticky from the blood— and opened his mouth by pushing down his jaw. “Be a good boy and drink this medicine. It’s magic blood. I know it’ll taste and feel weird, but it’s saved me before.”

While she talked to him, Zeno had reached them. Above the kid’s head, he stabbed his own arm, right below his wrist. He twisted the blade to increase the crimson liquid that trickled out of his veins. A good amount fell in. Kaya shut his lips, Zeno removed the knife, and the boy made the enormous effort to swallow. He didn’t spit it or vomit it.

They waited. Another peach blossom landed on the bloody mud. The boy was still hurting. The boy was still sweating. The boy was still bleeding to death. The injury did not close.

“I-it’s not working,” Kaya mouthed to Zeno. “Why is it not working?”

Zeno looked as shocked as she felt, or worse. His face was as though he had also been cut down with the child. He shook his head, and grabbed his knife once more with the question in his pained eyes. Kaya shrugged, unsure if more quantity would do anything.

Right before Zeno reopened his already closed wound, the boy gasped for air for a last time. There he lay, head on Kaya’s lap, one of his hands slowly slipping and falling on the ground, mouth as open wide as his now lifeless eyes. She shrieked and called him, shaking his unharmed shoulder a little, to no avail. Hot tears fell down her face just like petals from the trees. She didn’t know the kid, but that didn’t make it less disturbing.

“…Why…?” she heard from the other side of the corpse. Zeno’s voice was hoarse and charged with frustration. She closed the boy’s eyelids and jaw, and then she looked up. Her husband was still holding his blade, but with his other hand he clutched his golden medallion. He wasn’t crying like Kaya, but there was clearly a deep anguish.

They spent minutes in silence, while she still held the dead boy’s head and he still stared at the gash in disbelief.

“Zeno,” she finally talked, “what should we do with him? We can’t leave him here, can we?”

“But we can’t take him to his parents either, if he has them.” He sighed. “We don’t know where he’s from.”

“Can we bury him, at least?”

“We should…” he agreed.

It took them a long time to dig without a shovel, at some point forgetting the knives and other kitchen tools because using their bare hands were faster. Once it was deep enough, Kaya insisted to carry him to the hole. He was so light and thin, she had no troubles besides the tears clouding her sight and the nausea churning her insides.

It was the third time she was burying a dead person. First her mama, then her brother. This lad would not be the last, but it really had hurt.

Zeno was the one who covered him with earth again. She picked the best rock she could find around to mark the grave, located under one of the peach trees. She also took some clean flowers and a peach from their bag as an offering. They joined their hands in prayer.

“Oh gods,” Zeno recited solemnly, his politeness not hiding the broken bitterness and guilt in his voice. “Please accept this son’s return to the Heavens, and allow him to enjoy in your bosom forever. Give this spirit eternal peace and call him to your realm.”

They bowed. When Kaya got up, she saw that Zeno was once again grasping his medallion. There were no imitations of birds when they walked the road again. To her ears, they sounded now like a mourning choir. Even the peach blossoms still reeked of blood and flesh. Her palms and legs felt sticky. She didn’t dare to hold Zeno’s hands, earth invading even underneath his fingernails.

 

* * *

 

“Here you go,” Kaya said as she passed Zeno his warm bowl of soup later in the afternoon. He didn’t move from the spot where he was sitting, staring with dead-like eyes at the campfire.

“Zeno. It’ll get cold.”

“No appetite,” he whispered.

“I’m not hungry either, but we need to eat.”

“We don’t, actually.” He glanced away.

She knelt next to him and took a spoon. She filled it plenty and raised it to his lips’ level.

“Here comes the giddy goose~!” she sang, cheery, as she moved it closer. “Open the windows and let it in! Honk, honk, honk!”

The onomatopoeia had an effect. Zeno burst in laughter, cute fangs bearing, and Kaya took the chance to shove the spoonful into his mouth. Surprised, he slurped and swallowed.

“That was so childish,” he complained afterwards. Kaya shrugged and ate a spoonful of soup with the same utensil. The next one was held towards Zeno.

“But it worked. Honk, honk!”

Resigned and slightly amused, the man let himself be spoon-fed. Once the bird calls and the broth were gone, there was sad silence again.

“‘I shall allow it’…” Zeno said with a sigh, when it was too quiet to bear.

“Allow what?”

“That’s what it said… The Yellow Dragon, the last time it spoke to me. After thinking about it, I guessed Ouryuu must’ve meant that it would allow only Kaya to be affected by my powers through my blood. That they would only extend to you.” Kaya felt like she had been cut through with a sword as well. “I had no evidence until now, though…”

“T-then, this boy…” Bile with the taste of turnip and onion climbed up her throat. “Did we… curse him to die faster…? Did we disobey the gods and…?”

Zeno blinked, letting the fire reflect in his eyes afterwards. “I-I don’t think so. We arrived on the brink of his death. I don’t think we made it worse. Maybe to him, it was like drinking pig blood. No difference, good or bad.”

She stared at her blood-stained clothes. Her body shook and tears welled up.

“We lied to him. We told him he was going to heal, and he didn’t. He must’ve thought we were crazy or mean!”

“You had no way to know, Kaya.” He reached and caressed her back. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. Everything that lives will… return to Heaven someday.”

There was a hollowness in his last words, an unspoken exception that made her feel worse. She wept for some minutes, letting him attempt to console her with his warm dusty fingers. Meanwhile, she gathered the courage to say the next thing:

“You suspected, and yet you had him drink your blood anyway. Why?”

Zeno’s hand slipped away, and he surrounded his knees with his arms. The pose made him look younger, the sorrow on his face made him look older.

“Because I hoped I was wrong. I hoped with all my heart it would do something. I still had to try, in case there was some loophole and I could save him.”

But it wouldn’t and there wasn’t and he couldn’t, the pause seemed to say.

“Why couldn’t Ouryuu save him as well? Not giving him eternal life, but at least healing him?” He touched his knees with his forehead, golden locks flowing down. “What good are my powers in the end…”

Kaya wanted to say, ‘What about me? You saved me!’ But she understood he didn’t mean anything by it, that he was just as upset as she was or more. And after all, her everlasting life was more of a selfish favor that the god had granted Zeno. So instead, Kaya repeated his own words.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this either.”

He looked up and beamed meekly at her, seeing what she had done there. Some of his light was back to his eyes.

She had to be stronger, keep on smiling, keep him smiling.

“Let’s wash our clothes and take a bath and do something that doesn’t smell of death. Please?”

She helped him getting up, and he pulled her into an embrace and a kiss on her cheek. She squeezed him as much as she could before moving to the river nearby.

“How about I get you more peaches for jam, Kaya?” he reflected her smile like a mirror, like the water in front of them reflected the afternoon sunshine.

“Oh, yeah! That would be peachy!”

He snorted and grinned as he took off his dirty clothes. They were still hurting, they were still wishing they could have done more, they were still mourning the nameless child, but at least the weight of the guilt was much lighter, and soon it would be gone. Later in the day, when Zeno placed a red and yellow fruit on her now clean palms, he honked like a goose in jest.

 

* * *

 

About a week later, they arrived to a small village. No one was out in the streets and yet they felt many eyes on them, which was chilling. Zeno pointed at the windows, all covered in curtains, some of which were stirring in movement. At first Kaya thought they were scared of Zeno’s dragon mask, which he had been wearing in big towns, cities, and busy roads. He had refused to take it off in the last couple of days, however, because they were relatively close to Hiryuu Castle Town. As they never learned if that noble family from the ferry had kept quiet about Ouryuu, it was better to be on the safe side. After crossing the village without seeing a soul, they left.

Zeno told her that he had a bad feeling about this. She didn’t need to see his expression to know it was serious.

The next town didn’t seem so different, under the early evening’s sun. They were about to turn around and leave when they heard a door opening and a soft beckoning sound. They ran and came inside the house, where an old woman with sad eyes under her wrinkles was expecting them.

“Shut the door, my dears,” she said. So they did. The shack barely had empty space, full of scared children, mothers, and senior villagers. “Are you travelers on your way? I apologize, but we’re in no condition to offer you food or a place to stay.”

“Yeah, that’s okay. We’re just passing by.” Zeno smiled kindly as they knelt on the ground, since the place had no floor just like Kaya’s old cottage. “Are you the Elder of this village, grandmother?”

“N— Yes,” she hesitated, “I am in charge now that my husband… anyway, I’m the Elder.”

“I-I’m sorry for your loss, madam,” Kaya said quickly.

“Thank you, dearie. So what brings you children to these horrible lands? What’s with that mask on your face, son?”

“I’m just a traveling entertainer. But tell me, grandmother, what happened here? This territory used to be so lively and prosperous in the past. It’s not like you guys to lock yourselves up inside your houses.” Kaya looked at the numb, thin faces that stared at them, at the tears in the eyes of toddlers.

“Ah, so this man has been here before. Yes, this region used to be a good place to live, until a couple of years ago. Now the Vultures take everything from us and the other neighboring villages.”

“The vultures?” Kaya tilted her head. “You have a bird problem?” She could understand, as she wouldn’t want to be pecked by one of those animals. They were big and looked more than a little scary.

“No, sweet lassie. That’s how we call them. They’re a group of strong mercenaries that work for Lord Joo’s army. Every month, they come to the villages and take a tribute. Well, they say tribute, but we say it’s a theft.”

“I don’t understand it,” Zeno said. “Joo is an honest man, and one of the most humble nobles in Kouka. He wouldn’t even set taxes that were too high for his people to pay, so I can’t imagine him stealing tributes from his citizens or allowing these ruffians to roam free.”

“That’s because the Lord doesn’t know!” one of the elderly men cried. “The Vultures are doing it behind his back.”

“And if we tell Lord Joo,” a mother with her baby on her arms whispered, “these terrible men said they will kill us and burn down our village. We’re all too scared of their revenge. All the villages are.”

Kaya’s horror must’ve been reflected all over her face, because she felt the Elder putting her bony hands on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry about us, dearie. What you two need to do is getting the heck away from here as soon as you can. The Vultures are coming tomorrow or the day after. They absolutely cannot find you here. Especially not this month.”

“Why this month?” Zeno’s mouth twitched. “They’ll rob us no matter when, if they’re as mean as you say.”

“Because this month we couldn’t gather enough for the tribute, son. And when they don’t get enough food or money, they take healthy people to sell off. So please, run away and don’t look back. Hide from the roads and stay safe.”

“…I see,” Kaya whispered. She glanced at her luggage and then to Zeno, who understood and nodded in agreement. Slowly, she opened the cords of her backpack and took out all their provisions, even the remains of the peach jam. People gaped at her.

“Please take them,” she smiled. “ Sorry there isn’t more and that we don’t have medicinal herbs with us.”

“We… We can’t accept that. What about you?”

“We’ll survive,” Zeno grinned. “We’re healthy and young enough to get more food in the woods.”

Some of the women broke down and cried in relief. Many of the villagers took their hands and bowed as they thank them over and over. But it made sense to her to do that. They were obviously suffering from hunger, all their food stock being saved to become the mercenaries’ booty. She found herself sad as she realized there were too many just in that house and it could only last them for that evening at most.

“Thank you for your generosity. You were sent by the Heavens,” the Elder wept.

“Hahahaha, probably?” Zeno laughed. “Okay, it’s time for us to go.” He turned to the door and opened it, making a pause before he and Kaya went out. “Oh, and grandmother?”

“Yes, child?”

His sunny smile, the only visible part of his face, turned into a dangerous smirk.

“Don’t go to their encounter. I’m taking care of the Vultures before they can get here.”

 

* * *

 

“No,” Kaya pouted as they dined roasted mushrooms. There was determination in Zeno’s now uncovered eyes, a starry sky matching the one above their heads. Kaya wrapped herself better inside her blanket, which didn’t make her look more threatening. It was too cold to act threatening, but she would do her best.

“And leave these villages alone?” Zeno reasoned after munching his share. “You heard it. Theft, murder, human trafficking. No one will do anything and I can’t turn my back on that suffering.”

“I know. _I know._ But you can’t do it on your own.”

“Why not?” he shrugged. “I won’t die, I won’t get tired, I could fight them for centuries.”

She couldn’t believe how dumb he was.

“You won’t die, but you can’t beat them! It’s a bunch of strong, scary fighters with real weapons! They fight for a living! Immortality won’t help if they toss you aside and you only have a knife. If this was just a guy or two I’m sure you could, but this is a whole band.”

“So you’re telling me I’m a weakling.” Zeno sighed and stared at his own hands. Kaya realized she had said something offensive and covered her own mouth. Even if he couldn’t even carry her in his arms, he still had that Dragon Warrior title. From the strange light in his eyes of night, she knew she had struck a nerve.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t…!”

“…Yeah, I normally am.” She stared at him, surprised. He waved his hands and put unusual confidence in his words. “But Kaya, the powers of Ouryuu are not only eternal life.” _They weren’t? Was the legend wrong?_ “I can fight them when I fully use them. I’ve taken on lots more people than this and won every time. You once said you trusted me, remember?”

She nodded inside her blanket. Zeno smirked at her, the spark as strong as the North star.

“Then trust me again on this, please. I’ll explain it to you tomorrow when I’m back.”

With a sigh she nodded again, but her worries had not calmed down fully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay! These two chapters had been published on Tumblr for about a month now, but my beta was on exams and then the holidays came over, and I didn't want to post this unpolished.
> 
> Initially this chapter and the next were one and the same, but it was getting long so it’s became a two-parter. Luckily you AO3 readers were spared of the cliffhanger! Fun fact: All the symbolism this time started accidental (needed a [pretty tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peach#China), a [silly bird](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geese_in_Chinese_poetry#Geese_in_Chinese_symbolism), etc.) but when I realized how fitting they were, I milked their worth. Oh, and there’s a cruel double meaning to the title: keen is also a lament or wail for the dead. That’s how I roll. Enjoy, and this was hard to write for me, I swear.


	10. Hurricane and sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they protect an abused village, Kaya learns about courage, pain, and how the power of Ouryuu truly works.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to my beta, Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife).) You're the best. Have fun at Disney World!

“Turn me into someone like you  
Find a place that we can go to  
Run away and take me with you  
Don’t let go I need your rescue  
  
Watch me ‘cause I’m on a mission  
Hold me back, so I’m forced to listen  
Don’t let me go ‘cause I’m nothing  
Without you”

[ **Save Me**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV8yLLphihk) \- _Muse_

* * *

 

She had promised to stay hidden in the forest, within the boundaries of their campsite, but she just couldn’t rest. She had woken up nervous, her intuition going wild. She just had a bad feeling about this, and not just about Zeno standing in front of their swords and lances with that tiny knife. She had no psychic powers, prophetic dreams, or the ability to hear the gods. This wasn’t usual panic, either. It was just pure dread about the whole situation, as if something was going to go wrong and everyone would be in danger.

Against Zeno’s plan to calmly await for him in the campsite they had set, Kaya set aside the book she’d attempted to read, got up, and ran towards the village.

The morning was bone-chilling and she quickly realized she had left her scarf inside the blanket she had slept in. And yet she forced herself to continue, to tolerate the breeze around her neck. Was she making a mistake? Probably. Yet that unrest moved her forward.

The village’s streets were once again empty and silent, with only the wind moving across them. Those nice people seemed to have followed Zeno’s plea to stay put. Kaya didn’t cross the threshold; instead she sat on the ground with her back leaned on the stone fence. She watched over the road, praying that Zeno was holding on wherever he was.

She had lost count of the time when horses approached. She stood up and felt her heart sinking. It was four men, all in different shapes but with the same cruel look. They dismounted a few feet from her, hands on their sword hilts. At first they hadn’t noticed her until she was in front of them.

“Rei and the others can take care of him, but they’re taking way too long to catch up, y'know?” The one that seemed the leader stared down and saw her. He was a burly, muscular man with long hair and beard. “Ah, another brat? Where’s the old woman, girl? She knew we were coming for our tribute.”

Kaya gaped like a fish for a few seconds, looking for something to say. Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling too smart that morning.

“I, uh, I don’t know…” It was a lie, but she couldn’t give away the villagers’ location. She forced her mind to come up with an idea.

“Oh great, she’s as dumb as she’s flat. Did she say where our stuff is at least?”

“Um… They’re still putting it together for you. Could you please… wait for a while?”

“No, this place reeks of old people and piss! Bring them to me, now!”

“I-I’m sorry, I can’t do that! They’re, mmm, all outside right now.” If she could drive them away long enough for Zeno to come, at least the villagers would be safer for a longer time. Could she lead them to the forest, perhaps? Unluckily, the boss had different ideas.

“Are you telling me they escaped?!”

“Oh, nononono! They’re just preparing the tribute! I could, uh, take you to…”

“Hey, flat tits,” a second mercenary snapped at Kaya, “you think we be fools? It ain’t working, honey.”

“Yeah!” the youngest man yelled.

_Oh gods. They saw right through me._

“Well, it doesn’t matter if they’re home or not,” the boss shrugged with a cold temper. “Let’s go inside, let’s pillage and burn their houses down, and if we can’t find our booty or the idiots who live here, we go chase after them and teach them a lesson. What do you say, guys?”

The other three agreed. With shaky limbs, Kaya clung to the beams of the village entrance, attempting to act as a door, as a barrier. She was unable to do anything for her own family, for the boy on the road with peach trees. She was even less of a warrior than Zeno was. But she couldn’t die. She could shield the village from them, scare them off like Zeno with the thieves in the farm, months ago.

“Move, little bitch.”

Maybe if she tried to reason with them, too…?

“Please!” she cried. “Have some mercy. It’s just women and children and grandparents. They’re starving to gather your tributes and the lord’s taxes. There’s just so much they can do on their own without enough strong adults to work the fields! Could you please come back next month and ask for twice the pay? Or charge less this month?”

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” The boss leaned so close, he spat on Kaya’s face. “I said move aside, bitch, or we’ll cut you to pieces!”

She felt hot tears on her face. Her legs were trembling, but she just grabbed the beams harder.

“I-it’s not really wise b-because if you destroy this village, you can’t get any tributes again, s-so… It’s not good for you eith— aaaah!”

The younger man tried to pull her away with his hands, but Kaya resisted out of sheer willpower.

“Hito, what do we do with this broad?” asked the fourth man, a bald man. “Sell her as a slave? Or you want to have fun with her?”

“With this attitude? No one’s gonna buy her! And she looks twelve, ugh. Let’s just get rid of her. Step aside, San.”

Kaya couldn’t see the man anymore as her tears made her sight blurry. She closed her eyes and got ready for the sword she heard being unsheathed, all metal and fear in one single sound. She held on to the wood harder: she wouldn’t let them pass over her and get to the people.

The cold steel hit her flesh quick and painfully. She felt the point of the sword getting through her back, shivering and lethal ice. Hot blood flooded her mouth in a way that was different to her old coughs. More of it ran out of her as the man removed the sword. So that was what it felt like, dying from that kind of wound. However, the sensation and the intense sore was instantly replaced by that itch and the weaving. In some seconds, before she could even process the pain well, the hole in her body was gone.

She opened her eyes and swallowed the blood in her mouth. The men looked disappointed and baffled.

“Whoa, I can’t believe flat tits’ still standin’ and holdin’ on to the beams like a baby monkey. Thought she’d faint right away.”

“Tough bitch. Let me open that wound wider.”

With no time to waste, Kaya was pierced once again with no time to close her eyes, the blade dyed in red, all too visible when she lowered her head. The man called Hito twisted the sword around before he pulled it off. It hurt a hundred times more since she had been unprepared, but once again the damage vanished right away. She breathed in relief, even if she knew it was temporary.

“Not even little San has been this bad at killing someone, boss.”

“…You don’t understand.” Hito’s forehead was drenched in sweat. “I stabbed her in the same place, but I couldn’t find the first wound. I’m sure it went through her back, there’s even the holes on her clothes. How…?”

“I’ll handle it,” said the bald man. Unceremoniously, he took out twin swords, and cut both of Kaya’s arms off around the elbows with one swift move. She screamed and fell on her knees in shock. Cascades of red flowed from her limbs. Her forearms and parts of her sleeves also dropped to the ground to her sides, which made her screech harder, in high-pitching wails of terror that stung her vocal chords.

“Problem solved,” shrugged the man. “Lass can’t block the entrance anymo— what the fucking hell?!”

Four pairs of eyes stared at the ground and then at her. Her pain-filled screams died in her throat when she felt the familiar sensation across her arms. Kaya dared to peek. Her forearms had somehow flown back to their rightful place and were reattaching on their own. She felt her skin, her muscles, her bones, her veins, all mending back like a living tapestry. The taste of bile joined the taste of blood. As disgusted as she felt, she tentatively tried to move her right hand’s fingers and then both wrists. Good as new. Only the soaked slash on the sleeves and the tore cloth on the ground remained.

At this point, the men were even more horrified and had stepped away from her. She heard them murmuring, but it felt distant. Kaya forced her mind and legs to work again. The latter seemed to have difficulties. She then saw the horrible men, swords in hand, approaching her again. There was fright and hatred in their stares.

She closed her eyes as they all attacked her at the same time; if this worked as a distraction, so be it. Every stab directed at her was one less stab directed at an innocent villager, and so she withstood the pain. She imagined it was pangs and cramps from the old disease instead; she could handle those better. She ignored the hot thick liquid that drained from her body. It was okay, she could take those, she would get better. The villagers wouldn’t.

And yet, why couldn’t she stop crying and hiccuping? Why did their alarmed and increasing calls of 'monster’ hurt much more than the cuts? Everything was hard to ignore, both their attacks and her healing; parts of her ached as they were torn apart while other parts itched as they were mended together. But she had decided to endure.

Suddenly, a noise of something approaching at full speed, a battlecry of sorts. The swords stopped, the men gasped and cursed in surprise. She opened her eyes just in time to see a yellow blur descending from the sky, landing right on the head of the bald man; the earth shook from the violent fall, and the blur became a golden man crouching and then slowly standing up.

_Zeno…?_

It was certainly Zeno’s hair, Zeno’s face, Zeno’s clothes… or what remained of them. His tunic shirt was even more torn apart and drenched in blood than Kaya’s. But that wasn’t the most surprising part. His skin was covered with the most beautiful scales —dragon scales, she corrected herself— she had ever seen. It was the same golden color she had seen in beautiful jewelry and temple statues. He shined like the sun in all possible senses.

“YON!! Did that thing just break Yon’s skull???!!”

“Forget about Yon! It’s the same fucking brat that Rei was supposed to get rid of!”

“A-another monster, just like her!”

It wasn’t until he heard the last words that Zeno’s eyes, then glancing at Kaya’s state in agitation, turned to the shaken mercenaries. His expression went from pained but comforting, to stone-cold and absolutely furious. The soothing drizzle had turned into a thunderstorm, and lightning was going to strike them.

“Monsters, you say?” he scowled. “Perhaps I am, but no more than you scum, who have chosen to act like this. This girl is perfectly normal, but the Heavens have performed a miracle and saved her. You bunch of real monsters, however, shall be punished by the gods for terrorizing this land.”

Zeno took one step forward. The young one shrieked and walked backwards. The boss ran towards Zeno, broadsword pointed at his heart, but the blade made a clang when it bounced on his scaly skin. Hito tried four or five more strokes in different places, all with the same result, until Zeno got bored and grabbed the blade with his bare hand and crushed it to pieces. Kaya’s jaw dropped. The men whimpered in horror.

What happened next was so swift, her eyes had a hard time to follow well. He cupped the boss’ face with one palm, pulled him close, punched him twice with inhuman strength, and bashed him against the ground. Kaya peeked at the man, more human pulp than man, and regretted immediately. When she looked again, the other man had been kicked against the stone wall with an intensity that broke the rocks and got him buried in debris.

 _All without even the knife_ , she thought with awe and nausea.

The remaining mercenary, young San, didn’t even bother to fight back. He prostrated in front of Zeno, hiding his face on the dirt, weapon tossed aside.

“P-P-P-Please don’t kill me, s-sir. Have mercy on me!”

“Just like you Vultures had mercy on the poor and the weak?” Zeno retorted. “Raise your head, lad, and don’t think about running away.” He did as told, shaking like a rocking boat about to be sunken by a storm. “Do you wish to know why you’re still alive?” The man nodded, his pale lips in a grimace. “Because if everyone is killed with no explanation or witnesses, this land’s Lord will wrongly blame the villagers. Someone needs to stay to tell how a monster, a dragon, or whatever you want to call me was the one who did it. Someone needs to give warnings to the rest of you fiends who feed on the good folks.”

“Ah… T-Thank you, oh god.”

“I’m no god.” Zeno crossed his arms, still speaking in a dramatic tone more suited for the High Priest or the traveling entertainer than the Dragon Warrior. “I am a power sent by the Heavens, a divine retribution. The gods are watching for the rest of your life. You better tell the truth about what happened and not to pin it on the innocent. Oh, and if you ever do something bad to others, boy, no matter how little, you might face the wrath of Hiryuu and his servants. And believe me, next time you won’t be this lucky. You will be punished in more painful ways than this.”

The young man sobbed again in terror, utter belief all over his face. Suddenly being spared wasn’t such a great idea.

“And at least apologize to her for calling her a monster. And for hurting her, too.”

“Y-yes! My deepest apologies, miss!” The man bowed again, as deep as he could, but to Kaya it all felt distant and strange like a nightmare. She just stared at her own hands and moved her fingers. Right, she had been called a monster… A monster…

“…Kaya. Are you okay?” she heard seconds later, a sweet whisper coming from a radiance in front of her.

_Am **I** okay? What about **you**?!_

“……I feel awful. You?”

“I’ve been better. Don’t worry about me. The villages are safe now, though.”

She looked up. The lovely easygoing smile she loved so much, the clear warm skies in his eyes, those were back. It was hard to believe that human hurricane and her husband were the same person. The tears were starting to dry up at last.

“Yeah. They didn’t come in.”

“The villagers are probably watching us after all the commotion. We should leave now. Can you walk?”

She tried to stand up, but she found no strength left in her lower body.

“My legs don’t respond, sorry. Can I lean on you…?”

“Better yet.” Zeno made a confident swooping movement, and Kaya found herself carried in his golden arms. Unlike that first night together when he waddled under her weight, he looked unburdened and pleased. He giggled when he saw Kaya’s amazed, flustered expression. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a while! Hold on tight, okay?”

She looped her arms around his neck and shoulders. The contact with the scales wasn’t as cold as she had imagined: it was sunshine in a good spring day. His right arm held her waist tighter, and his left arm raised her legs higher. Once she seemed in a good position, Zeno started to run.

 

* * *

 

He had never been a great runner, but that time he dashed ahead like the wind. Soon they left another informal battlefield behind, and while everything was a blur to distinguish in detail, Kaya saw the lifeless shapes of about half a dozen men on the grass. The other Vultures, she presumed. Zeno didn’t even look at them; his gaze remained forward.

“Want to see something amazing?” he asked when they almost reached the woods. She nodded although she wasn’t sure whether he wished to distract Kaya from what had been done to her, or himself from what he had done to others. “Here we go, don’t let go of me!”

He jumped… Or more like he soared. For a few seconds, they ascended high in the sky and time seemed to stop up there. She could see the village behind them and the forest getting closer and closer. The morning sun shone over them, and his scales shimmered and changed colors like gems. He let some jolly chuckles out, and his mischievous smile was as shiny and warm as the sunshine reflecting on him. A sky with two suns. It hit her how gorgeous he was.

It was a beautiful moment ruined by gravity, as they crashed on a bush and he fell on his back. It seemed he wasn’t too good at landing. The scared Kaya was unharmed as Zeno absorbed the impact; only a branch tangled in one of the holes of her kimono.

“Oh gosh, did that hurt?” she said as she got up and freed herself out of the bush.

“Heheheh, nope. My body is like steel now. I’m just not good at jumping like Ryokuryuu, I guess.” He also got up and shook the dust on his trousers. “Wanted to cheer you up but…”

“You did,” she grinned at him. Although her skin still had a phantom itch where the swords had passed through, and the sensation of her arms falling off and sewing themselves back haunted her, she felt safer and happier. The fast beatings of her drum-like heart caused by this godly version of Zeno were much better to bear.

With no further word, he reached and hugged her. It was a firmer embrace than his usual ones, but it wasn’t just the new brute strength he was holding in. She then realized that he must’ve been as horrified by the things done to her as she had been. Hadn’t he been hurt by the other mercenaries, judging by his clothes? She hugged back, and she caressed the scales with his fingertips with playful curiosity. Was it normal to find them attractive? Well, even if it wasn’t, she wasn’t normal anymore. She kept touching them and kissing the ones covering his neck, as she wondered how they’d feel. He made a gasping noise and moved a hand across her back, which delighted her as much as the vibrant texture under her lips.

Love on their mind instead of the recent pain was much better to bear. She knew they would eventually be and feel better, and those blades still stabbing her spirit would one day be far behind them.

 

* * *

 

Taking a bath made her anxious again. As she washed herself, the touch of swords going through her body returned. Scrubbing her skin until it turned pink and sore —for some seconds— didn’t make her feel entirely clean. At least changing to good clothes and getting rid of the dry blood was a vast improvement. She sat down on a large rock and stared at her forearms again. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but it had been so gross. In that moment alone, and without Zeno to distract her, her mind was back to those eerie events again.

After a while, her husband —bathed and fresh-clothed and considerably less gold— was back in time to help with lunch. He trotted in tiny skips until he stood in front of her rock.

“For once I could’ve hunted something big and meaty, but this clearing has no animals besides songbirds and maybe squirrels,” he sighed. “Meeeeeat…”

Kaya grabbed Zeno’s arm and rolled his sleeve up. It was back to his usual smooth skin.

“Oh, you hid them again.”

“Eh? Ah, no, I go back to normal after some time has passed.”

“You can’t force them in or out?”

“I can’t. That would’ve been too convenient and useful.”

“Aww, I kinda wanted to see them again for a little while.”

Zeno smiled gently, and a blush showed on his cheeks.

“You don’t think of me as a grotesque monster.” He wasn’t asking. He was stating the obvious fact in awe. In response, Kaya giggled. Granted, she had never heard the word 'grotesque’, but it was easy to guess the meaning and it was the last one she’d use to describe him.

“Honestly? You’ve never looked more handsome. Sure, an immortal man covered in dragon scales is creepy if you think about it, I guess, but to me? You were sunshine. No, well, you’re always sunshine! But they’re pretty to look at, like jewels? I-I mean…”

She looked at him in the eye, with her fingers still around his wrist. There he stood in front of her, face heated up, hair still wet from the bath, eyes wide open. More importantly, that rare aura of confidence still made him glow not unlike those scales.

“No, I’m wrong,” she said blissfully. “You still look more handsome than ever.”

“Gods, Kaya. Love is blind, eh?”

“I actually feel like I fell in love with another side of you. But yeah, I do think that. And prettiness aside? What you did was amazing, Zeno. Amazing, amazing. You are a warrior today. You’re a hero! You saved the village, me, all of us, like a knight in shini— eh?!”

She fell silent when the man fell on his knees and started shaking. She dropped his arm and her grin when she realized he was crying. She had seen him weep before, and she had never pried about the reasons. But unlike those times, likely because he missed his king and his brothers, this made no sense to her. She had said good things, hadn’t she? Had she offended him again?

“Zeno? Are you okay?”

“…First time.” He wiped his own tears like a child. “It’s the first time… someone calls me a hero… someone sees me as… as a warrior…” He grabbed both of her hands, his stare beaming like a sunshower. “Thank you so much, Kaya. I… I guess I really needed to hear it, from someone important to me. But really, you’re also a heroine! You shielded the village even though you were so scared.”

“Oh, I didn’t do much, and I cried…” She felt embarrassed by such a high compliment, yet the rest of his words had hit her too much to dismiss them. “But wait, Zeno! Did you say that no one has ever called you a hero before me?”

“Nah, I was the useless weakling, the odd pickings.”

“What?!? Seriously?! But that’s…!” That seemed impossible. He had defeated those men effortlessly, unarmed. In what measurement was that weak or unworthy of praise? “Didn’t… Hiryuu or the other Dragons tell you otherwise…?”

Zeno strongly shook his head, pain over his expression. “Never. They never saw me fight. I… didn’t figure out my powers until they left the castle, until I was the only one left to defend the kingdom.”

Kaya felt her heart falling apart. She squeezed his fingers as tight as he could. She didn’t expect to see such a facet of Zeno’s old sorrows, not in this form. She played with his knuckles.

“One day, when you’re ready and you trust me better, I want to hear your full story. But I’m sure they think you’re a hero and a strong warrior right now, if they’re watching over us! Even if only we know, that doesn’t change the fact you’re kind and brave and strong. Okay? Don’t think you’re useless. I’m sure you did a lot, and you still do. Don’t cry, you’re making me cry too.”

“It’s happy crying right now,” his voice cracked before he touched the back of her hands with his lips. “I swear I’ll tell you soon; you earned it. Speaking of rewards, can this strong hero get another kiss from the bravest lady he knows?”

He took her little flustered gasp as a yes, and leaned to passionately join his mouth with hers.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked after the kiss ended. “Because I went back to the village and got badly hurt?”

“I should start making lunch now. Let’s go.” He got up and stretched. “I was more scared than mad. But I understand what you did. Maybe I understand it too well, to the point it would be hypocritical to scold you.” He sighed and went towards the backpack with the cooking tools. “Still, you gotta be careful. We were lucky, but I won’t always be there in time to protect you, or be able to use my powers. You can’t die, but it still hurts.”

“I see your point,” she shuddered as she remembered, dragging her feet to go arrange the ingredients. “I-It’s not just dying. I might get kidnapped and taken away from you. One of the men considered selling me or… you know, _that_. The boss said no, though.”

“…What _did_ they do to you?” Zeno pet her head and kissed her forehead. “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

* * *

 

It was hard, but Kaya told him her story over roasted fish and mushroom stew. Zeno looked more appalled the more she got wounded. He had only seen them ganging up with their swords, he explained, but he hadn’t been close enough to distinguish anything else. They ate cuddled against each other, and Kaya’s head rested on his shoulder as she talked. She did feel better after saying it aloud, though.

“I didn’t really think things through,” she whispered, “and I even thought I could convince them to leave. I was pretty dumb. Now I’ll have nightmares about my arms falling off for months.”

“It was a really dumb idea, but you saved them anyway. Do you regret it?”

“…Never.”

“Good. Courage is full of dumb ideas. Last night you thought I was dumb for fighting them, and today you called me brave.”

“Right, I might have thought something like that,” she laughed. She took a deep breath. “So, your turn, silly dragon warrior husband. What did they do to you and your tunic before you turned into a golden hurricane?”

“Golden hurricane?! Pfffft!” Zeno cackled for half a minute. “First I’m sunshine and now I’m a hurricane. Oh geez… Are you sure you wanna hear? It’s not pretty.”

“I know, but still. Your turn.”

“Alright, if that helps you…” His voice was casual and easygoing, but his expression was grimmer. “It actually wasn’t so bad compared to other times? They didn’t use their blades. They decided to make a circle around me and gang together to beat me up, just with fists. When I fell, they resorted to kicks to keep me down. Then when they were frustrated over my bruises and bumps disappearing, this enormous man —like, his biceps were the size of my head, I kid you not— decided he wanted to do me in and he took a huge ax. You can imagine how it went. First he lodged that thing to my thorax, breaking me open. I think he must’ve burst a few organs with that swing. At some point afterwards, he cut off my right arm…”

Kaya froze with her hands over her gaping mouth. She made muffled noises.

“Yeah, nasty,” he conceded. “I think I even fainted until I healed. But that’s fine! Sure, it was brutal but see, all that massive damage in one blow helped a whole lot. That and the closeness to Hiryuu Castle just made my powers manifest quicker.”

“What?” Kaya blinked.

“…I forgot I didn’t explain that to you. I need to get, uh, hurt real badly for my powers to manifest.”

“What does 'manifest’ mean?”

“Oh, right. To show up. Then my body, after all that intense healing, covers itself in dragon scales as hard as steel and it truly becomes the body of a dragon. My arms and legs are at least ten times stronger, too. But you already saw that. I’m practically a one-man army.”

“When you get really hurt? Your scales are made of pain?”

“Huh, I hadn’t thought it like that… The next book you buy should be a poetry one, Kaya! So anyway, they kept me busy long enough for those four to reach the village, since simple punches won’t awaken the power of Ouryuu. Usually the enemy needs to stab me a few— oh.”

Zeno made a pause, his brain obviously working. He stared at Kaya. She immediately understood as the same thought occurred to her.

“Oh! But I was…”

“Yeah. What they did to you would be plenty enough for me to get my powers. Hell, I’ve gotten them with less. Then…”

“…Yup, I didn’t get scales. Why is that?”

Zeno frowned and gave it more thought.

“I believe,” he concluded, after some time, “your body doesn’t change when you drink my blood. When I was given Ouryuu’s blood, I went through a painful transformation just like the other three. My hair changed its color, my fangs became pointy, and my veins boiled and longed to serve my master. You became healthier, but nothing else changed in you. Your hair and teeth are the same. You didn’t become more or less spiritual, either.”

“So, I’m not really a Dragon Warrior. Is it because I didn’t drink the dragon’s blood directly?”

“Dunno. Guen, Abi, and Shuten’s children inherited their full powers and I don’t think they were offered to drink anything. I don’t really understand what happened there, however.”

“Forget them,” she said, as she saw the sadness creeping up. “I think it makes sense. The blood won’t change me because it just means to keep me healthy and alive. The blood’s magic probably gets old somehow after a while, and that’s why it stops working after four moons!” She had kept count of the duration.

“I suppose. Ouryuu doesn’t need a new warrior with me around, after all, so it didn’t offer you a pact or its direct blood. It just made it possible for you to be affected by mine.”

Kaya nodded and reflected in silence. That also made sense to her. She felt Zeno pulling her back into a cuddle.

“Are you disappointed for the lack of scales and super strength?” he teased.

“No, actually. I don’t want to be a warrior. It would scare me. Maybe shielding innocent people once in a while is fine, but I don’t want to hurt anyone. I didn’t even want to hurt those men, despite of everything. I don’t know, I can’t imagine myself being violent.”

“You’re so nice and sweet, Kaya.” His voice was tender and full of love. “That’s something I really like about you. Do you disapprove that I killed most of those guys, then?”

“No… They were bad people.”

“I’ve also killed good people. There are good and bad people in armies, no matter the side.”

That was a really hard point to face and accept. She stared at the canopy and bit her lip. She could tell that Zeno didn’t even like war or fighting, even if he had gotten so used to it he found it natural already.

“I don’t approve of that part of your past, but I can understand why you and the other dragons did it. You had to become a warrior. Battles are like that, even if I don’t like it. You’re not a murderer like the Vultures who enjoy killing the weak. I believe most people who fight aren’t bad people.”

“So am I still your happy sunny handsome hurricane hero?” he pouted. She giggled and nodded. He smiled back and tentatively kissed her. She accepted him, her tongue playfully tapping one of his sharp canines. This was a transformation, he had said.

“Oh, Zeno,” she teased while he showered her neck and collarbone with more kisses and suckings and soft bites. “First you’re not young, then you’re not weak, now you’re not even a natural blond!”

“Sorry to disappoint,” he cackled. “Want me to dye my hair light brown again?”

“Don’t you even dare! I adore your golden hair!” She combed the yellow unruly strands with her fingers. “You’re not disappointing in the slightest, silly husband.”

She had promised to stay hidden in the forest, that same morning. Kaya still wasn’t sure what drove her to break her word, but despite the pain and the sadness and the spilled blood she was glad she did. She was glad that those good people were unharmed and free to go on with their lives. Light spilled over them through the canopy and, while neither of their skins shined under it, perhaps the selfless kindness in their forever earthbound souls did. For the first time since she took Zeno into her house, she felt like she had made a difference.

Maybe in the future they could be sunshine many times more. Hopefully with less trauma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the double update and the thrilling conclusion of the cliffhanger! Please feel free to yell at me.
> 
> This fanfic has, probably, two chapters left: the next one that I have yet to write and an epilogue. However! This doesn't mean the story is ending, just the scope of this fic which was making Kaya grow as a character, learn about Zeno's secrets, and decide to remain immortal. It would just be the end of this part of her story. I want to continue to write in this AU, mostly one-shots and short stories about the pair's journeys that don't exactly follow a timeline.
> 
> So far, that's what I'm planning to do. I'm still brainstorming.


	11. Back to the start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After this long journey to meet Kouka, there are still loose ends. Kaya comes back to her old hut and faces feelings that were buried and forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, these times were busy. Thank you so much to my beta, Dawgy ([gloriousrumpoflife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)).

Home is where I want to be  
Pick me up and then turn me round  
I feel numb, born with a weak heart  
I guess I must be having fun  
The less we say about it the better  
Make it up as we go along  
Feet on the ground  
Head in the sky  
It’s ok I know nothing’s wrong, nothing  
  
Hi, I got plenty of time  
Hi, you got light in your eyes  
And you’re standing here beside me  
I love the passing of time  
Never for money, always for love  
Cover up and say goodnight, say goodnight

**[This must be the place](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Do9gK2fOq4MY&t=ZTcxZTZmMmJjY2I2MmRkMjM5ZmNmYWYzOWUzYzUxN2ZkM2NlZjVmNix3N0d1MTgyNA%3D%3D) \- Talking Heads**

  

* * *

 

Summer had come once again, yet the valleys in the North remained fresh thanks to the humid breeze that danced down from the surrounding mountains. Cicadas sang their loud melodies on the trunks of the trees. The sun brought warm light that suffocated during the daytime. Under her traveling cloak, Kaya was doing alright; it was her native weather after all. The shaking in her hands had nothing to do with the heat. Next to her, Zeno seemed to be more smothered behind his wooden mask. Time and nature had chipped the dragon’s painted face, and one of the antler-like horns was broken by the tip. It was a contrast to his unchanging countenance underneath, how the character he played had aged and he had not. His permanent summer mane was tied in a hairbun and sweat ran down his neck.

The village was just as she remembered save for a few new houses. The style of the huts was the same, the well was the same, the clothes were the same. The folks she recognized —and she would instinctively turn her head around or pull her hood forward when they looked at her— had not been frozen in time like the place, though. They had not been frozen in time like Zeno, or perhaps, herself. Her face in the mirror every morning remained the same, but it was still early to tell if she was aging at all.

Zeno stopped her by holding her arm. He turned to an elder lady —old Dari, Kuu-tae’s granny, she recalled— with a polite smile on his lips.

“Excuse me, madam! We’re travelers passing by. Could you please tell me if there’s any grocery store or food merchant in town?”

“It’s that house over there, third from the right,” the woman pointed out with distrust in her frown.

“Thank you very much, grandmother. Have a nice day!” Zeno bowed and so did Kaya. She was getting used to him treating people around his age as older. When the lady was gone, he tilted his head and murmured. “You’re not supposed to know the way, remember?”

“…Oh!” Kaya covered her mouth with her palm. She had been so nervous, she didn’t notice she was walking on her own to where the shop was. “Sorry!”

“It’s fine. Don’t act this tense there or they’ll think you’re a criminal. Should I do the talking or…?”

Kaya shook her head and marched on. It took her enormous courage to knock and go in.

The middle-aged man who used to tend the store wasn’t around. Instead, a curvaceous, beautiful woman was behind the counter. Kaya recognized her immediately: her face hadn’t changed much besides the tiny wrinkles under her eyes. She hoped for the best and moved forward. The woman stared at them and blinked, and Kaya hoped it was because of Zeno’s mask.

“Welcome,” the woman finally said with a nice smile. “May I help you, strangers?”

“Ah, yeah. We’re passing by and we’re looking for provisions.”

“We don’t have much, but let’s see what we can do for you. What do you need?”

Kaya told her a list of things, only three of them the shop didn’t carry. It was alright, though. As long as they had some rice, they could manage. Kaya stared as the woman went in and out of the storage room and rummaged through bags, and she tried to push memories away.

At some point, three lively boys popped out of the back of the store. The oldest was about ten or eleven, the youngest one around five. They ignored Kaya and went to Zeno in a beeline. Her husband laughed and reached for his pockets, to make his juggling sacks appear. The kids were immediately impressed by the odd mystery man and his skill.

“Where are you from, by the way?” Kaya heard the woman say as she weighed sugar and glanced at the children, likely her own. “You’re far away from any city or anywhere important, if you’re just visiting.”

“We’re in pilgrimage,” Kaya smiled. “But we’re usually on the road ‘cause my husband’s a traveling entertainer. He sings and juggles.”

“So you’re not from around here.” Kaya didn’t reply, so Zeno did.

“My brother’s family actually lives a few villages away, but no. First time we’re here.” Zeno had put his sacks back and was petting the youngest boy’s fair hair.

“Ah. Well, here’s everything, girlie.”

With a relieved sigh, Kaya handed out the money and started to put everything in the backpacks.

“You’re leaving?” The middle kid asked with a pout.

“I wanted to learn how to juggle…” The older brother murmured.

“Are you two in a hurry?” the woman leaned and grinned at them, like she used to do years ago whenever she saw a cute animal. “You look so tired and you’ll have to cross a forest next. Please stay for a while and have some tea and dango!”

“Pleeeeeeease?” the three boys pleaded at once.

Kaya turned around and looked at Zeno. _Whatever you wish_ , she read in his shrug. Her gut told her to run away but…

“Sure, thanks,” she smiled back. She just couldn’t say no to their kindness.

“I’m Jaeni, by the way. These are Shiro, Jiko, and Kyuro.”

“…I’m Yoo-ki and this is Abi.”

 

* * *

 

As they crossed behind the counter and to the family’s house, Kaya felt Zeno’s hand on her shoulder. She put her hand over his fingers and squished them. They sat on the little house’s only table and shared funny stories from their travels and from books she had read. The jasmine tea was delicious, and Zeno taught Shiro how to juggle with the dango balls as the girls talked. At some point Jaeni’s husband came in and deposited lumber on the floor, trying not to make a big deal out of the visitors. Kaya also recognized his face, and she was surprised that puberty had also been so generous to that guy.

 _So Jaeni and Yoshu are gorgeous and got married and had cute children._ It gave her mixed feelings, but she was still happy for them.

“Abi-nii, why do you wear that mask even when you eat?” Jiko told Zeno while his older brother tried to balance two balls. “Take it off!”

“Jiko, don’t be rude!” his mom scolded the boy.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Zeno smiled. “You see, something happened when I was younger. Some people have found my face creepy, so I feel more comfortable with it.”

“I’m sorry to hear, Abi-kun.”

“I’m fine. Besides, the mystery attracts an audience!”

“He says that,” Kaya glowed, “but I find his face so handsome. It probably wouldn’t be Jaeni-san’s type, but I love it.” The boys whistled in jest and Zeno chuckled in satisfaction.

“My wife likes the best type,” Yoshu said all of a sudden, which made both ladies chortle as well.

When Kaya stopped laughing, she saw Jaeni’s green eyes on her. It was a tender stare.

“It’s so weird, Yoo-ki-chan, but you remind me so much of someone I knew.”

“…Eh?”

“There was this girl my age, I often played with her when I was little. And I swear you’re her spitting image. Even the way you laugh is identical. It just makes me so nostalgic.”

Kaya froze in the spot. She had been discovered. She saw Zeno’s back getting tense. Then Jaeni cupped Kaya’s jaw and almost dragged it in her husband’s direction.

“Hey, Yoshu! Isn’t she just like Kaya-chan?”

“Huh? Who’s Kaya?” The man raised an eyebrow, but still got closer to take a look.

“Kyo-kun’s sister! Don’t tell me you forgot!”

“Aaaaah, Kyo’s big sis! Now that you mention it, she does looks a bit like her, I think. It’s the eyes, Kyo also had those big eyes.”

“Right?!” Jaeni let her go. “So I’m glad you stayed over a bit, Yoo-ki-chan. It kinda feels like my old friend came to visit and meet my family after all these years, and that makes me glad. I know it’s a coincidence but…”

Kaya gaped, speechless. Her stomach churned and her eyes stung.

“…What happened to Kaya, madam?” they heard Zeno’s voice.

“Oh, well… Her mom was our seamstress back then, and she often bought fabrics and needles from merchants from out of town. We think that’s how she caught this deadly disease one day. The village was in panic. Kaya-chan’s mother agreed to move to this old abandoned house on the other side of the woods. Kaya and Kyo were nice, loving kids, see? They couldn’t leave her alone, and they didn’t know if they had the illness either, so they decided to move there as well to take care of her.”

“Even if they weren’t sick then,” Yoshu intervened and took dango, “they were gonna catch it anyway while they lived with their momma. So they all were left to die alone there and we kids had no news from them. The boys tried to sneak there a few times, but we were never got far enough without our parents dragging us back. They didn’t want us to visit and start coughin’ blood.”

“We girls often tried to send fruits and little gifts with the stuff the village sent to them. But after a year or so, the adults stopped the packages. I think they just left them three for dead or just didn’t want to provide for dying people. All the kids were really sad, you know? Our two friends were great and didn’t deserve to die all alone. People die of diseases all the time, but it was the first time we saw— Yoo-ki-chan?”

Kaya was so overwhelmed by buried feelings that she hadn’t noticed the large tears dropping across her cheeks. She wiped them with the tip of her fingers, but she couldn’t stop them. Soon enough, her playmate from the past grabbed her in a hug. She felt Jaeni’s warm arms and breasts pressing over her youthful body; whether she was reaching for Kaya or 'Yoo-ki’ didn’t matter anymore. She cuddled, her dark locks mixing with the woman’s light brown ones. And for a while, she was a teenager again, embracing one of her best friends as they both cried.

“I’m sorry, Yoo-ki-chan. I know you’re not…”

“Shhhh. I-It’s fine… I’m sure… Kaya’s happy now.”

 

* * *

 

As they left the village and found refuge in the forest, Kaya fell on her knees. Zeno took out his mask and hurried to her side. She was weeping again, still taken aback from that emotion, from that love she hadn’t expected.

“Kaya…” Zeno knelt with her and held her head.

“They didn’t forget us, Zeno. All this time, we thought…”

“But they remembered you.”

“They remembered. They _still remember_.”

“That shouldn’t surprise me. You’re so adorable you’re unforgettable.”

A wail came out of her throat as she broke down, much louder than her soft cry at Jaeni and Yoshu’s house. She cried inconsolably like she always did when something was too much to handle. Perhaps she’d never be able to grow out of that trait. Zeno held her closer, rubbed her back with his fingertips, and gave her butterfly kisses. She returned the hug and stayed for as long as the tears remained. Eventually she calmed down and hiccupped.

“They remember…” she whispered. “I was so close to telling her the truth, but…”

“I know. You were brave,” Zeno said, kissing her temple. “Do you regret it? Going to your village?”

“…No.” She looked at him in the eye and found love and compassion, even admiration. Her own weren’t puffy or red anymore, and the headache after a good cry was also gone.

“Let’s move on, when you’re ready.”

She leaned her head and moved to kiss him in the mouth, her playful hand tickling the back of his neck, right where his tied-up hair was born. The ribbon holding the bun waved as he moved his tongue and lips.

“Yeah, I’m fine now,” she sighed and grinned. “Let’s go home.”

 

* * *

 

The cottage was still where they left it, but most of the personal belongings they couldn’t take with them back then were gone. The door had been forced open, the hinges broken. The blanket over the straw futon was rotten and smelly.

“Do you think they came for you, Zeno?” Kaya asked while she checked a wooden crate. Her mother’s kimonos were gone, and only Kyo’s older clothing that had been too small to adjust to her husband’s size was left behind. Most of the fabric was eaten by moths, or maybe mice.

“Who knows,” Zeno said from the corner they had called their kitchen. “But I think this was the work of thieves. All metallic things are gone. There are some broken dishes and one spoon.”

“Maybe, but there are other explanations,” Kaya beamed. “Maybe someone else needed a house and found it. I want to believe people lived here for a while and we helped them, just like the previous owner helped us by building it. If that’s the case, it’s fine if they took from the hut. It was theirs then and we have no use for that.”

Zeno chuckled. “Oh, that’s a more optimistic theory! I like that better. And I’m okay with thieves, as long as they don’t hurt others.”

Kaya closed the lid of the crate and stood up. She didn’t want to dally longer.

“I’ll go visit them now. Do you mind if I go alone?”

“Of course not,” Zeno shook his head, “take your sweet time. I’m going to prepare dinner.”

She kissed his cheek on the way out.

 

* * *

 

“Hello, mama. Hello, Kyo. And hello, papa, if you’re also watching. Are you doing well above the skies?”

Kaya knelt between the two mossy stones that marked her family’s graves. It felt like a lifetime had passed since she said goodbye to them in the same spot, when in reality it hadn’t even been twenty years. She left wild azaleas in front of the tombstones, along with riceballs she had made that morning. That didn’t ease the pang of guilt, but they deserved some lovely presents. Her smile this time was sincere.

“Sorry I didn’t come earlier. I think it’s going to be harder to come back here with time. We were lucky the cabin’s still up now, but one day it won’t be. When that happens, I’ll try to pray to you from other places, if that’s okay by you?

"I hope you all like Zeno a bit better by now? I don’t know if you hate him or love him for keeping me alive and well. But you’ve seen him in any case. He’s a good man, kind-hearted and brave and sweet and wise. I still want to remain by his side while I travel around and learn new things.

"Have you been alongside me, Kyo? I’ve had a lot of adventures! Some were sad, some were fun. Life sometimes can be so harsh to people, but it also can be amazing. Just like nature can be beautiful and terrible. People are the same, too. That’s what keeps me going, that despite the darkness there are still patches of sunshine and moonlight to make it all worthwhile!

"This country is large and we’ve gone everywhere, but places and people will change quickly within a few years. I want to say I know Kouka well, but most of my knowledge’s gonna be obsolete eventually. Just like old books from many years ago that bookshops sell for cheap, because there are new editions with new information. That bums me out, but at the same time I’m kinda excited to learn again!

"Oh dear, I’m rambling. I hope you’re happy over there? Forgive me about the times I got hurt and had you guys worried. And if you see King Hiryuu and the Dragon Warriors, tell them I say hi and that Zeno misses them a lot. Okay?”

Kaya’s grin was peaceful and tender. She leaned and kissed both stones. The scorching sun from the afternoon had kept them lukewarm to the touch even after it started to set down.

“It’s time for dinner. Bye, mama, papa, Kyo. See you.”

She dusted the legs of her kimono robes and looked at the now darker sky as she walked back to the house. Stars already shone above, patches of cosmic light in the dark around a bright full moon. It was a gorgeous night and, on Earth, Zeno had already lit candles by the entrance to guide her.

 

* * *

 

“How did it go?”

Kaya sat on the familiar ground, at the table. Zeno was tending the fire and the stew, and the hearth danced in his eyes. He seemed concerned over her, so she hurried to soothe his worries.

“Fine, I guess. I didn’t cry or feel sad.”

Zeno studied her for a few seconds before returning to a cheery demeanor.

“Are you hungry now?”

“Starving!”

She wrapped herself on her hooded cloak before taking the soup bowl. She had forgotten how cold her old home was, even during summer nights. Under the candlelight, the newer cracks on the walls were visible; it was as though the scars of wounds from those years away had appeared on the adobe instead of their bodies. The smell of humidity surrounded them behind the scent of vegetables and chicken. Zeno was glaring at a big hole on the roof that made the place drafty as they ate.

It was so small and cramped and stinky.

Kaya immediately felt bad for comparing it to the places she had been to. It wasn’t so horrible. They had stayed in worse lodging than this, after all. They had been happy between those walls for a while. Not just Zeno and her, but also her mother and her brother and her. It held special memories. It held grief and meetings. It had been where she belonged, where she thought she’d die.

And she wouldn’t want to live there ever again. She had seen too much of the world.

“Are you really okay?” Zeno said. “You’ve been unusually quiet since we were at your friend’s.”

“I think I’m still shocked that people remembered us…”

“Do you have regrets?” he sighed as he looked around the abandoned house. “Do you envy that girl’s life?”

A normal life in a normal town, with a normal job, a normal husband, and normal children. She and Jaeni had nothing in common anymore. Did she want any of that?

“Well, the tea and food were really good. And sometimes I wonder what having big boobies and long hair must be like…” She giggled, but Zeno didn’t laugh back; he had asked a serious question. She tucked hair strands behind her ear. “Having friends and neighbors that can last. That’s what makes me a bit jealous.”

She remembered a conversation she and Zeno had about five years before. It felt like it had been last year.

_“So even if we decide to settle down one day, and let’s say we find a normal job. Even if we have the chance to adopt kids. We won’t be able to stay around to have long-lasting friendships or families, right?”_

_“Even if we had loved ones who knew about us, and we stayed somewhere forever,” Zeno had said, “they’ll all die eventually. We’ll see reminders of our lost ones daily. Also, greedy people will hear about immortals and look for us, just like they looked for my brothers.”_

An argument had followed, so Kaya felt no need to bring it up again. Guen was already in Zeno’s mind during that trip anyway.

“Jaeni… She’s never seen the sea. She’s never gotten out of this vale, out of our village. She can read and make sums, but I doubt she’s ever finished a book. People will always see her as a merchant and a housewife. I don’t want to become that. She’s got good things in her life, but I’ve got my own. She’s so pretty and nice and clever, and she has people who love her, me included. But she has no freedom and she could die anytime soon.” _Just like mama._

“So then…?”

“Envying is a common feeling and it doesn’t mean I want her life. I love what I do have. I can do plenty! I can love many things and people! This is fine, no need to stress yourself about me again, silly old husband.”

But envy aside, Kaya was truly glad that Jaeni seemed to have a happy life. She wished them well with all her heart. Zeno chuckled and returned Kaya’s cheerful smile like a mirror reflection.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you’re not a kid anymore.”

“I like being considered a kid, though! Thirty-two is a pretty number but an awful age for a woman. Just like being in your sixties is awful for a guy.”

Zeno’s grin turned mischievous. “Just for that comment, this grandpa won’t share the little present that our tenants left for us~” He enthusiastically picked up a half empty bottle of cheap sake he had found in the house, and he shook it to make the liquid dance.

“Don’t be like that!” Kaya gasped and pushed his shoulder in reply.

“Little girls shouldn’t drink dirty booze, much less if it could have spit and diseases. Heh heh.”

Still, he handed over the bottle after sipping half of the content. She also gulped straight from the mouth of the container. It tasted well and strong, and she immediately felt the effect: Kaya was the happy kind of drunk, so chortles filled the air for a few seconds until the inebriation was gone. Next to her, Zeno’s soft cheeks were still pink under the candlelight.

“Well,” Kaya chirped, “I’ve done my part and came back. Time for your part of the deal.”

“Right, right,” he said. “We’ll go after we rest. Being here again, it’s like the old times.”

“I didn’t drink sake in the old times, though!” Her eyes wandered to the walls around them. “Even the house has aged while we haven’t. It’s so strange and wonderful, don’t you think?”

“Not really?” Zeno shook his hair as yellow as the small light projected on them. His face was also just as warm as the flames of the candles. “This place changed on the outside but you, Kaya, you’ve changed in places that cannot be seen. You’re not the same person who left.”

“You’re not the same person either, Zeno. You’re much happier, more open. Remember when you got here?”

He looked embarrassed, but nodded all the same. He rolled on the floor like a log until he reached the futon. He lay down on his side, in a pose that was meant to be seductive despite the funniness. His curve of his hip and the ajar cleavage of his tunic were doing a better job than their owner.

“I woke up here, and a vision of paradise broke the door open. How could I forget?”

“Yeah, whoops. Then I sat here,” she said as she did so, right next to the futon, “and offered you food. It really saddened me that you didn’t want to eat or talk to me at first.” Kaya saw him roll over his back and avoid her eyes. She turned to the broken doors, badly closed but still doing their best. “You’re not that guy anymore. Still, you were always a good man who put other people before himself, who wanted to protect others and see them smile. I’m glad you never changed in that regard. I hope you remain as kind and considerate forever.”

Zeno made a non-committal sound.

“Hey Zeno, want to make…?”

She turned around and found her husband’s eyes closed. Drool came out of the corner of his lips. She shook her head and restrained a giggle, not disappointed despite of her lover falling asleep. If he really was sleeping, of course. Old men…

She reached for a blanket from a backpack and covered his legs up to the waist. Zeno, awake or not, grabbed her left hand with both of his and pressed tight. They felt hot and cozy, like he had brought campfire on his fingers. No matter how many years had passed and how many things she had seen him do, she was surprised his hands remained squishy like this, with no callouses whatsoever. She loved those childlike hands, able to caress and hurt.

She remained sitting on her heels for as long as Zeno held her hand, just watching him breathe. Eventually he let go and she could blow the candles and joined him in bed. She cuddled him and tangled her legs with his, and they had a peaceful night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, timeskip! Once again the chapter got too long, and this is the duller part. I'm currently working on the second half. Thank you for your patience, we're almost there.
> 
> Next chapter will be, for once, Zeno's POV!


	12. Mended promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After this long journey to meet Kouka, there are still loose ends. Zeno is long due to make peace with his regrets by paying a visit he had promised years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to my patient beta, [Dawgy](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife)!

There’s an albatross around your neck,  
All the things you’ve said,  
And the things you’ve done,  
Can you carry it with no regrets,  
Can you stand the person you’ve become,  
Ooh there’s a light  
Ooh there’s a light  
  
Your Albatross, let it go, let it go,  
Your albatross shoot it down, shoot it down  
When you just can’t shake  
The heavy weight of living

_**Bastille** \- [Weight of living pt. I](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxyzHYg9BYRs&t=Y2FmMTY5ZDZkODBlZjNhZjY4NTczNzNlMGQwM2I3ZDdmODI3MzliMixSaXNrSGY4ag%3D%3D)_

 

* * *

 

There was no road to walk through the eerie mountain, but even if there was they would be unable to see it. The more they climbed, the thicker the white mist was. The atmosphere felt ethereal, like a land of dreams from which you might never wake up. They could barely distinguish the tall trees around them, tall phantoms in the nothingness. Zeno trod ahead, no need for eyes. He just had to follow the presence, a lighthouse to guide him through the fog.

“Are you sure it’s here?” Kaya said as she tightened her grip on his arm.

“Pretty sure. I feel him. Are you scared?” he teased and gently leaned his head on hers.

“Nope, I just don’t want to get lost. Are you?”

He didn’t reply. His stomach was in knots. He had avoided the place for so many years, and the one time he followed the presence it had been too late. Zeno couldn’t help but fear the mountain, because it gave him such bad memories of despair. He focused on the dark locks under his blond ones, on the tense fingers above his elbow, as sources of comfort. It was alright. It would be alright.

“Should we sing to lift our spirits?” she went on. Before he could open his mouth, the music was already on her lips. “ _Oh Lady Hummingbird, my dear Hum—_ ”

“Shhhhhhhhhhh. Don’t,” he whispered with apprehension. He didn’t want to shush her like that, but he had a bad feeling.

Zeno and Kaya hadn’t walked for long when they heard the noises around them. Zeno recognized some sounds. Rustles of clothes. Metal and wood clashing inside quivers. Bowstrings being tensed. His shoulder itched in anticipation. Soon the voice of a man echoed in the woods.

“Leave! Leave this land immediately, intruders!”

Zeno turned his head toward the direction whence the voice came. Those guards hadn’t been there last time. It seemed they had increased the security, and Zeno wondered if it had been a consequence of his close visit a while back. His eyes adjusted and he saw three cloaked men climbing on branches. The metal of the arrowheads aiming at the pair shined.

He just pulled Kaya closer and glared at them.

“This is a sacred mountain,” one of them insisted. “Take your business elsewhere or you two will be punished.”

“Please, we’re on a visit,” he heard Kaya say in the sweet, kind tone she reserved for particularly rude people. When presented by insult, her gut reaction was to be genuinely more gentle. He’d always liked that about her.

“There is nothing to visit in this mountain, so begone!”

Zeno separated from Kaya’s grip and caressed her back. She understood the message and stayed on the spot as he walked decisively to the group.

“I am looking for the hidden village where Hakuryuu dwells,” he announced. “May you take us there?”

The reaction was immediate. He felt the trajectory of the arrow before it was even fired, but he just dodged enough to get vital organs out of the way. It lodged on his forearm, according to plan. It hurt, but he had been ready. He withstood the pain and ignored his wife’s contained gasp.

“The next one will go through your heart!” the archer threatened.

Zeno didn’t move or looked impressed. Right on cue, he felt a white beacon approaching and getting warmer in his mind and soul. Soon there were sounds of hurried footsteps crunching the leaves on the ground.

“Hakuryuu,” Zeno murmured clearly. The watchmen turned around and looked alarmed. One of them jumped to the ground to his master’s encounter.

“My lord,” he said, “do not worry about these intruders. We shall handle this menial task.”

“No, lower your bows immediately!”

“My lord?”

“I’ll take care of this. Because that man…”

The mist seemed to disperse as the White Dragon approached. He was tall, leaner than his predecessor but still having a strong built. His right hand was hidden inside the cloak’s pocket but there was no doubt. Zeno recognized the boy he had seen years ago in this adult, even if his face was more angular and left unshaved for a few days. His eyes were larger than Guen’s, but he shared the nose and snow white hair with his father. There was, however, no emotion on his face except the hastiness. Zeno felt a stabbing pain in his chest that hurt more than his physical wound.

“…Ouryuu, am I correct?”

Then the other men ran to their master’s side.

“What?!”

“Ouryuu?!”

“This dirty brat cannot be a Dragon! He didn’t even dodge my shot, lord brother!” Now that the forest was less foggy, Zeno noticed the archer also had white hair, and Guen’s bushier eyebrows.

“It’s true!” Kaya also ran to Zeno’s side. “This is Ouryuu. Mister Hakuryuu, you can feel it, can’t you?”

“I can,” Hakuryuu just smiled at Kaya and Zeno, and the latter’s heart beat faster.

“I don’t believe it!” the other brother pointed with his finger. “You must give us a proof you’re not deceiving Lord Hakuryuu somehow. If you truly have Ouryuu’s blood as you claim, show us your powers right now.”

“Fair enough,” Zeno shrugged even though he hadn’t been the one claiming anything. He had been waiting for such possibility. In fact, a part of him wanted to show off.

He turned his head to the arrow still lodged in his flesh, and he tapped the feathers to call their attention. He then grabbed the shaft and pulled it out, making sure to move it more than necessary; he wanted to break the wound far more open. The bleeding increased for a few seconds and drenched the sleeves of his already dyed cloak and shirt. Although the others couldn’t see it, the familiar tingling sensation let him know that he was healed. Then he slowly put his backpack on the ground and started to undress. When he was finally shirtless —his stained, pierced clothes were set aside, and the Medallion danced around his neck— only the drying blood on his arm remained. No hole. He heard gasps, none of them from Kaya.

“That was just a tiny arrow, though,” Zeno conceded. “If you want a bigger proof than this, I don’t mind. You may go ahead and do something worse.”

To his surprise, the three men were on their knees in reverence. The only one who approached was Hakuryuu, with his claws out. They looked as sharp and menacing as he remembered. Zeno’s legs trembled, but he understood it had to be done. Hakuryuu put his human hand on Zeno’s shoulder, and then he did a soft scratch on Zeno’s skin with one nail —but being Hakuryuu’s claws, even their softest scratch stung and broke skin and muscle. Everyone glanced in shock as the tissue folded back into place, no trace of scars left again.

What took Zeno by surprise was the sudden embrace. If he hadn’t had Guen on his mind already, that would’ve done the trick. Hakuryuu shook Zeno’s body back and forth in excitement, perhaps with more strength than needed.

“I had no doubt but with this demonstration, my family and retainers can believe your identity and lineage. Come in with us, you two! Welcome to my home, Ouryuu!”

Zeno’s eyes pricked and felt watery. He wasn’t Guen, but that kid — _that young man_ , he corrected himself— was still family, wasn’t he? He found his arms reaching on their own to return that tight hug. He heard something similar to giggles; a few feet from them, Kaya beamed and sobbed at the same time.

He wouldn’t run away this time.

 

* * *

 

The village hadn’t changed too much. There were more of the little narrow round huts, but otherwise it was the same. Hiryuu’s dragon crest, such a familiar sight back in the day, had been painted on every door.

People stared in awe at his wild mane of golden hair, at the gilded Medallion, at the arc of blood on his chest. News had spread fast in the little hamlet, no doubt. Heads bowed as they and Hakuryuu passed. It had been a while since he had last seen this amount of respect and veneration; he didn’t miss it at all, but it was not unusual once upon a time. Kaya wasn’t used to be the receiving end of that kind of attention, though. From the arch of her back, it seemed she was considering bowing back at them. Zeno chuckled, amused by her cuteness.

They were taken to Hakuryuu’s house, the only large cottage by the end of the village, where a hot bath expected them. A fresh new shirt robe was given to him by the maid, certainly to replace the one the guards had ruined. He put on his best trousers, and Kaya donned her more expensive linen kimono.

“Wooden floor!” she pointed out at the polished, shining planks as they were taken to the main room.

Hakuryuu and a considerable large group filled the hall, sitting on cushions. They stood up when the pair entered the room, and their reverence was much less pronounced than the other villagers’. They saw the archer with bushy eyebrows, and he wasn’t the only youth with silver white hair or some of Guen’s traits. Of course it made sense that his brother would have had many children. Two older women, close to Zeno’s real age, were on each of Hakuryuu’s side.

“Let me introduce myself formally,” the other Dragon said with his arms spread wide and claws visible. “I am Nun, second generation of the Hakuryuu and head of our clan by Heaven’s blessings. It is my pleasure to welcome you to my abode.”

“I’m Ouryuu Zeno. It’s a pleasure as well, Nun.”

Zeno offered his hand to be shaken, which Nun accepted with a smirk. Then the introductions continued, starting with the ladies on his side.

“This is my mother, Hana.” Zeno bowed to the eldest of the two, a big-bosomed woman with calloused hands and a friendly smile. Her eyes were the same shape as Nun’s. “And this is my other mother, Min-dul.” Again he bowed, this time to an elegant middle-aged beauty with salt-and-pepper hair.

“So you’re Guen’s… wives? I should’ve known he was too much of a man for just one person.” Again, it didn’t surprise him that much. He had always been so popular with the ladies in the capital, and in a village that worshiped him…

“He’s adorable. I like him,” Min-dul laughed behind the back of her hand.

“I’m also too much of a woman for just a husband, you know!” Hana pointed at herself.

It turned out that Guen had six children in total, and two were older than Nun: a friendly dark-haired woman called Juna, and the white-haired, bushy-brow man who shot him with the bow, Hiten. They were introduced to all the sons and daughters, their spouses, and even the children of the eldest ones. Names danced in Zeno’s head, and he knew he’d be unable to remember them after a few hours, let alone through eternity. Kaya was also in the vortex of introductions, a curiosity as a wife of another Dragon Warrior that wasn’t a Hakuryuu. Nun’s wife, a chatty girl in her twenties named Lika, had happily tangled her arm around Kaya’s. Guen’s little grandchildren ran in circles around Zeno chanting ‘Uncle Ouryuu! Uncle Ouryuu!’

Family… And such a numerous one.

 

* * *

 

Lunch was late because Nun’s mothers had decided to throw a banquet in their guests’ honor. At the center of the village the whole town sat on blankets, passing each other the dishes and bottles. At least three kinds of roasted meat. Smoked salmon. Fresh fruit. Warm vegetable soup. Meatbuns and rice pastries filled with bean paste. Of course, lots and lots of alcohol. Compared to festivals in other villages of the same size, it was a real feast. At first, Zeno thought it was just too much, and maybe it’d be better to let them save as many leftovers as possible for future days. His resolution succumbed when he was offered roasted hog and he started drooling; his stomach had decided for him.

Zeno looked around as he ate. Happy music and conversation surrounded them. Young people danced to the then old-fashioned songs. Compared to that one time with the arrows, it was like a pleasant dream. Hana and Min-dul cuddled against each other, and from the position of Min-dul’s hand and Hana’s lips he suddenly understood that they were not only _Guen’s_ wives. Face burning red, he looked away to give them privacy and quickly reached for salmon.

“So, Ouryuu Zeno,” his host sitting next to him interrupted his revelation.

“Hakuryuu Nun!” Zeno immediately grinned, even if saying a different name after that title still felt wrong.

“Zeno, were you named after your father?”

Such a strange question. “Sorta. It’s a family name, I guess. My grandfather was also Zeno, and I heard my sister’s boy is also a Zeno. Why?”

“Ah, nothing. I just found it interesting that you were called like your predecessor.” Predecessor? What was the kid talking about? “Hopefully it won’t be confusing for you when we talk about him.”

Zeno still didn’t get it, so he shook his head.

“Lord Guen —dad, I mean— he would tell us great stories about his dragon brothers. He didn’t have many battle stories to share about him, but we know he really loved your father, Zeno.”

…Oh. _Oh_. They thought he was his own son.

They thought he was a second Ouryuu. He looked far too young to be Guen’s brother.

 _I’m so stupid. It’s obvious they’d assume that._  His hands shook and dropped his plate. Nun managed to catch everything with his enlarged hand.

“Lord Hakuryuu, what the hell did you do?” a female voice called, probably one of Guen’s daughters. “You just upset Lord Ouryuu!”

“Oh damn, Zeno. Zeno! I shouldn’t have brought it up, forgive me. Let’s not talk about the previous Lord Ouryuu, okay?”

Zeno looked up and saw concern and guilt in the blue eyes staring at him.

“N-no, you guys are wrong, I… I’m not…” He couldn’t say it. Even though they were used to a Dragon Warrior, they might still find him and his lack of aging monstrous. Even if they didn’t and were okay with it like Kaya, the mood of the party would probably change and they’d smother him with questions about Hiryuu’s time. It was just easier to keep quiet and let them think he was really a teenager who was born with healing powers.

“We can talk about my dad, that’s okay,” he sighed and beamed at them. “But he was terribly boring back in the palace and I don’t have many cool stories either, unless you want to hear about priests and sutras.”

“Ah!” Kaya said, obviously picking up after him. “Lord Ouryuu was an amazing and kind guy who did his best to protect Kouka.” Her hand reached his, and she squeezed his fingers. “But Zeno here has a lot of great tales from our trips, so it’ll be more fun to hear those!”

That seemed to impress the Hakuryuu family enough. They didn’t look the type to do tourism after all, so only the older folks of the village knew of the outside world.

“So you didn’t leave Ouryuu village just to visit us?” another of Guen’s sons asked. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

Zeno shared a complicit look with his wife.

“Kaya and I are Ouryuu village. Our family hasn’t settled down yet like yours or Seiryuu’s. We’re nomads on the road. It is dangerous sometimes, but I can handle it.”

“Yeah, right,” Hiten chortled into his sake cup.

“You’ll think otherwise when you have children and a successor,” an old woman dared to say, and people fell silent. Min-dul glared at her.

“We have no plans for that right now,” Kaya said, and the awkwardness felt thicker. Lika patted her own womb with strange concern. Her clothes didn’t seem bulged, but he wondered if she was early into pregnancy.

“Oh, Young Lord!” Hana ran toward them with a clay bottle and a cheerful smile. “We’ve been saving this for a special occasion, and as the elder of the village I decided this is a perfect gift for you Lord Ouryuu.”

Zeno looked at the bottle. The design looked familiar, perhaps a vintage he had drunk before. He wondered if it had been Guen’s, and the special occasion would be one of his brothers visiting. He felt a pang of guilt on his shoulder blade, like a phantom wound.

“I… We didn’t bring presents for you guys, so I shouldn’t take something this precious. This amazing party was good enough.”

“I insist,” she said with the intense glare that only the matriarch of a clan who had raised six children, one of them with an impossibly strong dragon arm, could wear. Zeno started to sweat.

“…We accept, thank you very much!”

“We happily accept!” Kaya gulped.

“Now that’s better,” she nodded in satisfaction, and poured a cup for Zeno. “For the lovely gentleman.” He drank.

The indescribable flavor of the booze brought him back to three, or perhaps four decades before. To those days off when he and the others were in good spirits, and would decide to spend the night in the city. Sometimes it’d end up in fighting, being them, but sometimes it didn’t and they would sing and drink together at their favorite bar-inn, and it was amazing. Shuten would challenge anyone to drinking games or a spar outside, and Guen would arm wrestle against ten guys at once and impress everyone, and Abi would do impromptu debates about music or books with strangers, and Zeno would just eat and pretend he was more drunk and start the songs.

That’s what the alcohol tasted like: the rare camaraderie among brothers. He sighed as the effect of the inebriation wore off.

“Aaaah! It’s Joogo sake!” he couldn’t help but chirp. “Sooooo good!”

“I’ve got riceballs soaked in plum sauce,” Hana smiled as she handed out a tray. “Want some as accompaniment?”

“Are you kidding me?” Zeno’s face lit up even brighter as he snatched the snack. “That’s perfect for Joogo! The sweetness makes it like twenty times tastier.”

Zeno stuffed his mouth and enjoyed the explosion of flavors. Just the way they were eaten in the capital. No doubt she had gotten the idea from Guen, and he was so glad. His favorite alcoholic beverage with the perfect recipe to go with, there from all places?

“Look at him go, dear,” Min-dul cooed. “Your husband is so cute, Kaya-chan.”

“He is!” she giggled and took a riceball from him without asking for permission. “Mmmmm, they’re yummy!”

“Right?” Zeno sipped some more sake. “Anyway, does Hakuryuu village want to hear about the most magical places of Kouka?”

“Yes!” many people cried.

“Alright, Uncle and Aunt Ouryuu will take you there. Let’s tell them about the haunted sea cave, Kaya!”

“Ooh, that’s a good one! So we’re by the Eastern coast, Zeno’s missing one shoe, and we were looking for the closest port to get a new pair when a fisherman—”

Faces of all ages listened. He himself found himself mesmerized by the sound of her voice, by the sense of wonder, by the sparkle in her eyes. Just as satisfying and intoxicating as the sake in his palate, but not fleeting. No, she just remained. He wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her against his body. She didn’t stop her story, but she also took him by the waist. Her village, her home.

And yet, the weight of the bottle on his lap grew heavier with every story they shared. He hadn’t forgotten what he had come to do, but he couldn’t just leave the party. Running away from it for a couple more hours would be the same.

 

* * *

 

Hana took him to the burial mound when the sun started to lower behind the mountains. The rest of the clan and Kaya were still celebrating and chatting at the center of the village. The woman’s disposition was different from the one at the banquet, and she often glared at Zeno with a restrained irritation that wasn’t there before. Maybe she had found his petition insulting, yet his category as a guest made it impossible for her to refuse.

Having someone in that family mad at him gave Zeno some relief. Everyone had been too nice. Even Hiten had apologized for the arrow and slapped his back while drunk.

“Are you sure you wish to go alone, Lord Ouryuu?” Hana asked. Yes, she sounded irked.

“Yes, please,” he almost begged. “The original Ouryuu had unfinished business with the original Hakuryuu, and I must deliver that message. In private, if possible.”

“I’m aware. My husband kept no secrets from his wives. But as you wish, my Lord. Don’t get lost in the catacomb.” She turned around and left. She was most definitely irked.

Zeno sighed and slowly walked inside the tomb, torch in one hand and tributes in the other. He had hated mausoleums ever since Hiryuu left the world. Surrounded in darkness, his brain told him to flee, to go and curl on the forest floor, away from the village. He ignored the smells and his old instincts —he had heard them for too long anyway.

Soon he was standing in front of the casket, also adorned with their king’s crest. Zeno left the torch on a metal receptacle on the wall, and reached for his own crest on his chest with his then free hand. Under gold, his heart ached. It was harder to breathe. Still, he knelt in front of the coffin and put down the riceballs and the bottle of Joogo. After touching the ground with his forehead, he noticed there were already tears in his eyes. How unmanly.

_“I wouldn’t even know where to begin, Kaya… What can I say to him?”_

_“Well, how about you just greet him first?” she had suggested long before, nimble fingers twisting around his sunny locks. “And then you apologize.”_

He sat straight and forced a smile among the sobs.

“Heh… Hey, Guen. Better late than never, huh?”

The soft echo of his voice and the crackles of the fire were the only noises that broke the silence. He waited until his words didn’t crack in his throat.

“Man, you must have such a low opinion of me now. I broke not one but two promises to you. Didn’t visit you while you were alive. Can’t return to Heaven to meet you and the others. Your little brother is terrible, terrible! But finally here I am, ready to ask for forgiveness. Grief and guilt have haunted me for decades now, you know. I’m more than sorry, Guen. I’ve been a coward and I’ve avoided you for far too long. So here I am, you can yell at me or punch my face as much as you want!”

He waited. Only the flames and his own heartbeats could be heard. The shadows danced on the walls, but none had the shaped of Guen. Zeno nodded to himself and dried his face with a sleeve. Not meeting him again and not replying back would hurt him much more than any resentful apparition, if he was indeed angry at him.

“Alright. Well… I guess I don’t have to explain why I never came here. It’s all over my face. Not a secret anymore, now is it?” He poured two cups of alcohol and sipped from one of them. “I tried to compensate it by defending Kouka and the king as you three would’ve done it. For that I was also too late. I often wondered if you and Shuten and Abi would be proud of me, finally fighting. Maybe not; maybe you would’ve disapproved of me. Guess it’s my fault I’ll never know that.” The light reflected vaguely on the liquid.

“I wasn’t a great brother to you, but I really admired you, Guen. It wasn’t just your strength in battle. I’ve never been that fond of violence, not even now. It was your courage and your charisma and the way you cared for us all.” Despite his efforts, his voice broke again and his cheeks were wet again. Despite his heartache, he smiled as warmly as the fire. “I’m really glad I had you and the others as my brothers. Meeting you, and the king, and Abi and Shuten, and later Kaya… Those made this curse of immortality worth the pain. I’m also glad I finally came here and met your family. You had an amazing life, and you deserved it.”

And he meant it. Guen did deserve the best, in his opinion. His three brothers did.

“They’re adorable. And your ladies are great. I’m sure you’re proud of all of them. But I’m also proud of mine. Hey, have you seen my wife Kaya from above? She’s cute and clever and kind! It was she who dragged me here to confront you, to get some closure. I wonder if you and Shuten are mocking me for marrying someone so much younger than me, but I’ll let you know she’s older than most of your kids! Hey, do you know what Abi and Shuten’s wives are like? I’m missing all the gossip from below.”

He chuckled and sighed. He put his hand on the casket. He considered opening it to hug his corpse or grab his hand one last time, but the lid looked too heavy and people might notice if he moved or broke it. So instead, he just touched the stone with his forehead.

“I hope you can forgive me one day, Guen. Please don’t hate me, okay? Please. Please. Because I didn’t want to meet you all old while I was forever young, I used priesthood and battles as an excuse to stay until people were creeped out. I was scared, I was a jerk, and I regretted not seeing you guys one last time. I still do regret, often. But I have a lot of suffering and regret ahead as it is, don’t I? I have love and hope, though. So please watch over me, give me and Kaya part of your strength and courage to deal with this eternal life. And take care of Hiryuu’s spirit over there, alright?”

The shadows danced just like the tears flowing down to his jaw. He didn’t get a sign from Guen that told him that he had been heard and forgiven, but the burden felt lighter. Zeno leaned and kissed the coffin goodbye.

“Farewell, brother. I love you.”

Exhausted from the crying, he fell asleep next to the slumbering warrior.

 

* * *

 

It was already night when he was out of the mound. He sneaked into the room they had been given in the mansion. Kaya was already inside a large futon, wearing a borrowed white robe. Zeno tiptoed, but she still opened her eyes and glanced at him with curiosity.

“How did it go?” she whispered.

“His ghost didn’t come to kick my ass, but I do need like a thousand hugs,” he replied as he took out his dusty clothes and only kept his undergarments on.

“I can do that,” she grinned with a bit of sadness, and opened the bed. “Come here.”

He stayed for minutes or perhaps hours in her arms, the softest of silk caressing his smooth naked skin. He buried his head between her neck and her shoulder to cry on again, and they cuddled even after he found some comfort for his sorrow and he ran out of tears for his brother.

“Do you regret coming here?” she asked later, still embracing him.

“Nope. You were right, I had to come. It was one of the best ideas you ever had,” he said as he kissed her forehead.

“But you didn’t correct Nun.”

Zeno sighed. Of course she would point that out.

“I tried but I panicked.”

“I think they might understand if you told them.”

“This generation would. We can’t be sure about the next ones not finding us scary.”

Kaya placed her head on his chest and playfully kissed his nipple. He giggled, which ruined the serious mood of the conversation.

“Weird, huh?” she went on while she toyed with the beads of the Medallion. “If you hadn’t run away back then, if you had told them who you were and they had seen you healing, they would’ve welcomed you with open arms. You might’ve been living here all this time if you had decided otherwise.”

“That sounds terrible,” Zeno grimaced. Kaya turned her head up to meet his eyes, shocked by the word. He didn’t understand her reaction, when it was obvious to him.“Had I not run away, you would’ve never found me. This Kaya would’ve died alone, and this Zeno would’ve never loved her. Running away at the sight of little Nun got me to meet my best friend and wife. That was one of the most important things I’ve ever done, don’t you think? I wouldn’t change it; loving you was meant to be.”

It was time for Kaya’s dark sidereal eyes to shine with stars of tears. She blushed and laughed and nodded and showed her agreement with a shower of kisses. Her breath, like his, tasted of sake and plum sauce. Zeno grazed lips and fangs against her neck’s skin and flushing earlobes, the spots he knew that drove her crazy. Moans escaped Kaya’s mouth and her hands desperately wandered all around the dragon’s body. The texture of the sleeves against him was delicate and pleasant to the touch, and that made him shiver. Inebriated by her fingers and mouth, by the brushing of her inky-colored locks, by the silk slipping off her shoulders and cleavage, by her thighs climbing around his, he let her do and did to her whatever she wished and they both found pleasure within their love.

It was less about said pleasure and more about the display of affection, to Zeno. He wasn’t sexual like most people, so the fact she was there with him was what filled him with passion. He lost sense of time once more, lost in her warmth and her muffled laughter. She lay by his side and caressed his unruly hair, glowing in happiness and beauty.

“They probably heard us,” he whispered to her ear. “The whole house.”

“The conversation or the other stuff?”

“The other stuff, Kaya,” he softly chuckled. A part of him wondered if Guen in Heaven also witnessed that.

“They seem to like doing those things more often than we do, so it’s fine. Let’s just say the wives enjoy to talk about the effect of long nails and scaly fingers that change size.” That was a side of the White Dragon’s powers that Zeno did not want to know about, so he gave her a pleading look to change the topic, which she understood. “Oh, um. While you visited Guen, Hakuryuu’s wife and second mom invited us to stay here for as long as we want. I guess we’ll say no, then?”

Zeno stopped laughing, but the smile stayed.

“I think his first mom is a bit mad at me but if it’s fine by her, a couple of months or years shouldn’t hurt.”

Kaya gaped at him and then she beamed. She was the stars twinkling in the night. How beautiful she was! Even more so when she was so happy! He met her lips and playfully tugged one of her ears with his teeth before going to sleep.

“I’m proud of you, Zeno,” he heard Kaya say as he dozed off.

 

* * *

 

Almost a week had passed, and there was no sign yet of Guen’s angry spirit coming down to Earth to kick him out of his house. Zeno wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved.

He was sitting on a hill by the edge of the village, looking at the movement of the people below. They didn’t allow him to work, as his body was considered by them as sacred as the Hakuryuu claw. Kaya working seemed fine since they thought her to be normal. That made him snort, but he didn’t contradict them. As hard as he tried to convince them that he could contribute and that the Original Generation did plenty of menial work back in the day, no one would listen. The only task they approved of was taking care of the children, so Zeno took to it and decided to teach the youngest villagers how to read and write and do maths in the afternoons.

The mornings were dead time, however. Sometimes he’d join Nun, who also wasn’t allowed to do much beyond warrior training and clan leader business. Sometimes he’d play hide and seek with Guen’s grandchildren. Sometimes he’d just meditate in peace just like that day.

“Lord Ouryuu?” He looked up and saw Hana in a traveling cloak and carrying a basket. The lady had been avoiding him since the banquet, so he was surprised to see her. Nonetheless, he bowed politely and smiled brightly. “May I ask you to help me with herb gathering? As a traveler, I’m sure you must be an expert at recognizing them.”

“Kaya is actually much better at medicinal herbs than me, my lady,” he explained.

“She’s helping with the laundry today. Could you please come with me?” The woman’s tone was dry, more like an order than a request. The herb thing, he concluded, was just an excuse to talk to him in private. Not having much of a choice, he got to his feet and dusted his trousers, still smiling.

They went deeper into the woods, and he was impressed by the energy and agility she had for her age. There was no mysterious mist that day and the cicadas had quite the concert ready for them. Hana sat on a large mossy stone and Zeno stood next to her, getting ready for any complaint she had. Nothing could have prepared him for the conversation about to take place.

“Lord Ouryuu, you are a liar.”

“…Oh?” Zeno’s smile faltered. Well, he couldn’t really deny it, but he wondered what she meant.

“I won’t tell our children or Min-dul, especially not to Nun who’s so happy to be visited by a dragon brother. But please don’t tell any new lies or make stupid promises, or I’ll be forced to unmask those.”

“Um. What lie do you think I’ve told you, Lady Hakuryuu?” His mouth felt dry. She was glaring at him with the intensity of a she-bear ready to attack.

“The fact,” she stood up and poked his chest with her index finger with every other word she said, “you’re not a second generation. There’s only been one Yellow Dragon and that’s you, Ouryuu Zeno! You’re the man my son thinks it’s your father. Liar!“

He felt the world shaking. Bile went up his throat. He realized would’ve rather face Guen’s ghost than this grandmother.

"D-did you eavesdrop at his grave?”

“No need. I recognized you immediately and put you to test during the feast. Maybe Zeno just had a son who was his spitting image and had the same voice, but I needed to make sure. You didn’t touch the food I knew Guen’s Ouryuu didn’t like too much, and asked for seconds of his favorite dishes. However, the Joogo sake was the real test. His preferred brand back in the capital. You were over the moon in a way that only he would. Then you asked to talk to Guen alone, and it was glaring obvious. Don’t insult my intelligence, please.”

“You set me up,” he said in dismay. _The plum sauce… I should’ve realized. It was too specific._  "But how did you know that I look…?”

“You didn’t recognize me, my lord,” she sighed. “That was your mistake. And here I was, thinking my specialty plum riceballs would jolt your memory. You ordered them all the time back then.”

That did the trick. He remembered their usual place and their usual table. He remembered sitting there with Guen and Abi and Shuten. And he remembered a brown-haired beauty with full red lips and big breasts, carrying a trait of sake and her own handmade riceballs with a smile and a wink. He remembered Guen’s fascination, flirting back and forth with her. Wasn’t she one of his many girlfriends, maybe?

“The waitress at the Yum Inn!”

Hana grunted in annoyance. What a fool! He let his legs sink down. Zeno hadn’t expected anyone who knew him in the middle of those mountains. How did those two even meet again? Guen had left the castle alone, hadn’t he?

“Didn’t you quit your job at some point and break up with Guen, though?”

“Now you remember! Yeah, I had to go back to my hometown in the year the king died, to take care of my ill mother. But we were reunited eventually and got married. Liars don’t deserve to hear the whole story in any case, which is a pity because it’s a great one.”

“…Gotcha. Look, Hana, I didn’t mean to lie to Hakuryuu. When I realized he assumed the wrong thing, I just didn’t know how to correct him. You have to admit that it’s hard to believe that I’m an old man.”

“I’m four years younger than you. Are you calling me an old woman, too?”

“Oh! Uh, um, no! Nonono! I didn’t mean…! You look great for a gran…! I mean…!” Zeno fretted and moved his hands up and down. He kept messing things up with her. To his surprise and confusing, she started cackling until her tummy hurt.

“Sorry,” she said after the laughter calmed down, “I was messing with you right now. I’m a granny, sure.” She sat again, less angry. “Oh gods, you still look hilarious when you get teased. I don’t have a beef with your lie to my son. I can understand that one. But someone needs to call out on your shit, friend. I can guess your girlie girl doesn’t scold you about your lies. Hopefully she knows she didn’t marry a cute young boy her age?”

“…She doesn’t scold me, nope.” Quite the opposite. Kaya often backed him up instead. “And she knows all about me, yeah. Plus, she’s 32.”

“She is?! Wow, that child is older than Nun! I thought she’d be 19 tops. If she uses any cream for her skin, I need the recipe.” Hana then proceeded to smack Zeno on the head. “And don’t reveal a lady’s age, you numskull.”

“Ahahaha, sorry, sorry!” Zeno grinned, now more relaxed. “She doesn’t use creams, but she drinks from my blood every four full moons, mixed with jasmine tea.”

“And there’s the Lord Ouryuu I knew,” Hana chuckled. “That’s so strange, it’s like not a day has passed for you.”

“That’s Ouryuu’s power.”

“I see. Look, Zeno… Can I call you Zeno?” He nodded. “I don’t hate you. I can see you had the worst part of the Four and I know you’re a great man. I’m just tired of all of your lying in general. And I don’t want you to hurt Nun the way you hurt Guen.”

Zeno widened his eyes and hugged his knees. So it had come to that. Hana continued, relentless, not stopping although he had started to bawl.

“You need to hear this, sorry. He _waited_ , until the very end. He said your name in his deathbed and called you a bastard. His last words, Zeno! You hear?”

“I-I…”

“I understand now why you didn’t come, I see you suffered, but back then? All I saw was your elder brother worried sick about you, and you not reaching out to him just pained him! It wasn’t just the visit and the promises. It was that you didn’t trust him! He kept feeling you move anywhere across the country, and if he focused on your presence? He felt stabs and torture! He had no idea what you were doing! You were getting hurt and he couldn’t do a thing to help!”

Zeno stared at her, his sight blurry. He thought he saw Hana also crying. Guen had felt his fights? How many times had he sensed him in the verge of dying in the battlefield, to then miraculously recover?

“You’re as stupid as the other three. Guen never resented you. He adored you! He admired you! He had long forgiven you for those broken promises and those lies, you dumbass. Had you come, had you trusted in him, he wouldn’t have made a big deal out of you being immortal. He would’ve broken every bone of your face first, but then he would’ve hugged you and asked nothing else from you. Idiot!”

“G-Gueeeeeen….”

Pain worse than a thousand swords pierced his soul. Soon he found himself in Hana’s embrace, being rocked like a child. He clung to her blouse. The scent of plum sauce and barbecue was on her clothes, and that just made the nostalgia stronger. If he closed his eyes, he could see that rugged, friendly face framed in white hair.

“Hana…” he managed to say later. “I can’t… I can’t meet him again in Heaven… Or Abi… Or Shuten. I broke that promise to him, too! Would he forgive me for that, too?”

“Well, that one’s not entirely your fault. It’s your fucking dragon’s fault.” Zeno blinked and looked at her. “Did that bastard ever tell you he’d make you an immortal?” Zeno shook his head with half a sob. She rocked his head again. “There you are. You shouldn’t have made the promise if you knew back then, but he’ll absolutely forgive you. He’s a softie when it comes to his family. Just stop making promises you can’t keep. You’ll cry when you break them. They may cry, too. Take responsibility! Say 'I can’t promise that but I’ll do what I can’ next time.”

That sounded wise. Perhaps he would heed her advice.

“I… I’ll keep it in mind,” he sighed. “I feel like a weight has been lift from my shoulders…”

“Good. Guen wouldn’t want to see you wailing like a baby forever. Just be more honest and take life head on, like the proud Dragon Warrior you are!” She pulled Zeno’s ear as if he were a naughty child until he got up.

“Owowow!”

“Now let’s go get some herbs. You’re on trial while you live with us, Lord Ouryuu. And if you behave, and if little Yura and Jeno learn to read like fancy capital children, I might even tell you how Guen and I met again one day!”

Zeno’s smile shined back.

“…I’d like that. How about riceballs soaked in plum sauce?”

“You’re not at that level of grace yet with me, brat!”

“I’m four years older than you, dear sister-in-law!” he frowned as he grinned.

“All I see is an obnoxious teen who lies to his brothers, sorry,” she winked and grabbed her basket.

Yes, that felt like a family again. And even though it wouldn’t last, he couldn’t help but love them already. With a light heart, he followed her back to the village frozen in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, this took me longer than expected. The odd chapter in Zeno’s POV is also the longest, and I couldn’t even put everything I wanted in there. But that’s what drabbles and extras are for. Next I think it will be the epilogue, but this universe isn’t over yet. Meanwhile, enjoy the feels.
> 
> The punny names in this one are in Korean. Nun means snow, Hana means one, and Dul means two.


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on, like morning mist. Home can be the comfortable embrace of someone who cares. Suddenly Zeno has an epiphany and he thinks about the future.

It’s sunny and funny  
And quirky and oh oh oh  
A little piece of heaven  
And I so wanna go  
I know my happy ending  
But you don’t have a clue  
How much I long to see your face  
Cos No one ever can replace  
A place called you 

**Emma Stevens** _-_ [A place called you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfNb6f9Leko)

 

* * *

 

 

It was a misty morning that shrouded the mountains in cold white and covered the foliage in shiny drops of dew. Nonetheless, the breeze slowly scattered the fog and by noon, the vivid colors of spring were already gracing both the woods of the valley and the peaceful town. The sun shone gently on red tiles, and on the cloaked traveler on the road.

Kaya made a pause and glanced at the houses from the last hill. She could recognize some of the figures that walked around. On the yard of the annex building of the temple, a group of little shapes ran and chased each other. Only the top of their heads and their hair colors could be discernible from the distance. One of the tallest ones, the person who jumped the most, was bright yellow. Her heart felt warmer, her lips curved into a grin, and her legs itched to move forward.

She ran down the hill, her hood falling over her shoulders and her short dark locks bouncing with her steps. She tripped but regained her balance before she could hit the ground. She kept jogging with her forearms held skyward, elbows bent and almost pressed at her sides, until she had gone through the gates of the hamlet.

Back home. Or what they had called home for what, three or five years now? It didn't matter yet anyway.

As she crossed the town, familiar people would smile and wave at her. She greeted back. A child in her late twenties, sandy hair in a braid and toddler holding her hand, approached with quick pace. For Kaya it had passed an instant since the last time she saw her neighbors, but for them it had been perhaps a couple of weeks. Many things change in such time for normal folks.

"Kaya-chan! Thank goodness you returned safely."

"Hi, Chiyo! How's everything going?" she hugged the girl tenderly. Then she crouched to squeeze the boy' cheeks and give him a kiss on his crown. "Hi, Zaki!"

"Fine, fine," said the woman. "Oh, I got a new kimono and I have to show you! It's soooo pretty."

"You did?!" Kaya smiled wide. "I'll stop by your place tomorrow for tea, alright?"

"Of course, honey. You just got here."

"Zaki's birthday's this Sunday!" the kid said.

"True! Auntie Kaya returned today so I wouldn't miss it!" Kaya lied: she didn't even recall what the date was that day, but she was glad for the coincidence. "How old are you turning this year? Do you know?"

The kid pulled up three fingers and Kaya praised him. Three years old, then. Kaya remembered that she and Zeno had moved in during Chiyo's pregnancy. That meant they could still stay around for about a dozen years more if they wanted to. Meeting children in their journeys and seeing them growing up, they had found, was a good measurement of time. An often bittersweet method, though.

"Are you going to the temple to greet your hubby, Kaya-chan?"

"Nah, I'll go rest and give him a surprise when he's back. He's busy working anyway. Did Zeno behave while I was gone?"

"Mostly. The guys went out and got drunk a few nights ago. To be fair, he caused the less ruckus of the lot and he escorted Toki-san and the other boys home. Could've been worse."

Kaya laughed at her friend's pout. Then she remembered something important and she gasped. She put her backpack on the ground and rummaged until she found a bunch of roots tied neatly with a piece of rope.

"Here," she handed out. "For your mom's back! Remember to boil them first, then grind them."

Chiyo's expression changed, eyes wide open. She took them and ruffled Kaya's hair.

"Ooooh! You're a lifesaver, girl! Tell you what? If our loquat gives good fruit this year, I'll give you an entire bag in return."

Kaya's cheeks blushed as she clapped in gratitude. People in that town were so kind and grateful and cute, it was impossible not to like them.

"Alright, go straight back home, little sister. You must be exhausted."

"Y-yeah," Kaya rushed to say. "See you later."

As Kaya grabbed her backpack again and moved on, she giggled. Little sister. She imagined this big sis' expression if she ever found out that Kaya was several times older than her grandmother, perhaps even older than the whole town and the loquat in their garden. The affection she got for this type of caring folks still made her warm inside, regardless.

 

* * *

 

 

In front of the cozy house of crimson roofs where they lived for the moment, she found five cats sunbathing at the entrance. As she got close, they got up in a hurry and rubbed against her legs as a welcome.

"Hey, kitties! Coming to visit? You can't deceive me," she pointed at a huge empty plate next to the door, "Zeno already fed you guys. Glad to see you're well and cute, though."

After scratching behind some fuzzy ears, Kaya unlocked the door and dropped her baggage on the floor. To be honest, she didn't feel tired. She washed herself and changed clothes —the brutally honest mirror gave her that same old face, that same young face— and then inspected the place. No dust had stuck on her finger after she passed it across the surface of a table. However, there was a small pile of dirty dishes and pans in the kitchen.

 _Oh well, it's not so bad this time_ , she shrugged and grinned. _He cleaned up the place recently, he had fun with friends, he's working. That's good. He's doing great!_

She undid her bag and put everything in its place. The dirty clothes went to a laundry basket. She stored the gathered medicinal herbs and the spare provisions inside a cabinet. Then she took out her notebook and a branch of a rare plant she had carefully preserved, and she placed them on a wooden desk next to a window.

The light was ideal for the endeavor. Kaya sat down and opened her notebook on the first blank page. She prepared the inkstone and soaked two brushes —one thick, one thin— on the black liquid. The scent of ink and paper relaxed her; she closed her eyes for a minute to meditate and put her facts in order. Her hand took the smaller brush. Under previous notes she had taken, with great care and patience, she skillfully sketched the shape of the white and pink star-shaped flowers that grew on the branch. She added a written description, more notes about the plant itself and what she had investigated about it, and another detailed doodle, this time of its leaf. She wasn't satisfied with the drawings, but they were similar enough to be recognized.

The ever-young woman hummed a song and basked in the breeze and the sunshine while she waited for the ink to dry, unable to pass the pages until then. She was considering to grabbing a book to read from her cherished collection when she heard the front door opening with a creak. Her already placid soul felt even more at peace, truly closer to home.

"Welcome!" she almost sang as she turned around in her chair. Just as expected, she saw her beloved Zeno staring at her and blinking. His expression went from normal cheeriness to surprise to absolute delight. Love filled his ancient eyes of sky. Before she could say anything else, a yellow blur jumped at her and knocked her to the floor, total disregard to furniture and lady alike.

"Ah!! Not again!"

"You're back!" Zeno said as he wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Ha ha, yup!" She returned the hug and squeezed him back. They sat on the floor mat and glanced at each other, enjoying each other's presence. He was wearing his sunny mane in a half bun these days, these months, these years. His tunic shirt and trousers were usually simple and humble, but he'd complement with colorful sashes and hair ribbons to make himself look youthful and fun. She loved that; it made him look so handsome. That day's choice was teal. Kaya grabbed his hands, too smooth for an ageless warrior, too rough for a wise man. "Missed you. Did you miss me much?"

"You know I did!" He touched her forehead with his. His lips were like an archer's bow, quickly firing arrows in the form of kisses all over her face. Finally, she was home.

Even after they had gotten up, with some stumbling difficulty, he acted like a puppy and smiled from ear to ear. It was hard to resist it and not to reflect it like a mirror. "So," he said, "how was the trip?"

"Lovely, lovely! Got enough ginseng and thyme and sage! There wasn't too much rosemary this time but we can trade some cayenne for it later. Oh, and look what I found!" She moved towards the table and showed him her branch and notebook with pride and enthusiasm. "Never seen it before. The master apothecary at the market didn't know much, said he thought it was only native to the cliff area around Awa, really hard to get. I have to research on it, and see how to harvest a bunch in an accessible habitat."

"What does it do?" Zeno asked, his lips curved in amusement. She knew he liked it when Kaya used long words or scientific terms, and she liked to comply.

"Healers are still figuring it out, since it's so rare! We know it's the best known anti-inflammatory, but there might be more good effects we haven't discovered yet. West coast herbalists call it a miracle drug."

"Then it's a miracle you got some. Also, you look pretty cute with those flowers in your hand."

"Silly dragon husband!" She put the plant aside, giggling. "Now tell me about your work. How has it been lately for you?"

"Oh, I've been a good boy." He rocked on his heels, the image of innocence. "Which reminds me, I have to do the dishes."

"You do indeed," she nodded as he rushed to the kitchen, still talking. She followed him.

"The kids have been adorable and clever, too. The older ones moved on to multiplication, and Mimi has the best memory for tables. Pipu's handwriting is getting loads better now that we found out he's left-handed. Tari returned the poem book and borrowed another of your novels. You're gonna love this: lately she and Yuri have been calling me Zensei."

"Pfffft! Zeno-zensei!" Kaya cackled for a while, hand covering her mouth.

"Zeno-zensei! Little Han-soo started reading but he's been confusing the letters, reading in the wrong order. It seems his older sister has that thing going on, too. I'll have to take another approach with him."

"Oh. What are you planning to do?"

"Dunno yet. It might not be something you can correct if that's how his body works. But we'll figure it out, patiently!"

"They're lucky to have you as their... pffft... Zensei." She stared as he fetched a jar of water, its weight a struggle for his arms. "What else happened while I was gone?"

"Let's see. Geu-no's cow had a baby and I helped with the birth. Healthy calf, brown and white, really cute. Ah! And yesterday I helped grandma Bae-ra to fix her roof. She's been given me her spare food all the time, but as a reward for that she made tuna riceballs this morning just for me!"

"Awww, she's such a sweet young girl. Did you leave any?"

"Only ate one, so we have lunch done!"

"Yaaaaay! Say, do we have plums? I could make Hana's plum sauce."

He nodded intensely. His eyes sparkled and his mouth drooled slightly in anticipation. Kaya nodded back and left him washing the plates as she looked for the fruit and ingredients. Minutes passed in silence. She was peeling a plum when she heard a crash on the other corner. Fragments of broken clay spread on the floor.

Zeno's eyes were wide open, and his lips and fingers shook. He didn't seem aware of what had happened, lost in thought.

"Z-Zeno? What's wrong? I'm here."

She ran to his side, but he didn't even notice her. His left hand moved to cover his mouth. His right hand was clutching his medallion. She figured he was having one of those moments when his heart was too heavy for his chest, and she was ready to be there for her husband as usual. But when she was next to him, his eyes were shining with a light she had never seen in him. It wasn't his depression or his guilt. This was new.

"Zeno! Are you okay?!"

The man breathed heavily and gulped. "My King... I... He will... Eh? Kaya...?" She nodded, serene. "...Give me a moment, please. I... I need to clear my thoughts." She nodded again and he seemed concerned when he looked back at her. "It's nothing bad! Sorry I scared you, love. Just let me think this over and I'll explain later."

"Alright. Just call if you need me, okay?" She caressed his cheek with her open palm, and then she gave him space. She finished the sauce, found the box of riceballs, and set the table. She peeked at him while she worked, and he was picking up the pieces of the broken earthenware. There was a trickle of blood on his index finger, but the cut was long gone. She waited for him and glanced at his enthralled eyes as he grabbed the broom and swept.

He didn't seem depressed at all when he sat at the table. He offered his bloody finger at Kaya absentmindedly, who kissed it and licked the red. She felt the Ouryuu power renewing through her veins, a sensation natural to her after so long. She much preferred to drink it with tea, though. She entwined her fingers with his and held his hand.

"I'm still putting my ideas in order," he finally said, "so please bear with me. So, Hakuryuu village. And Seiryuu village and Ryokuryuu village, too. And me. We're all still here, and... Wait, let me start again." He sighed, and his smile was melancholic. "Remember how Hakuryuu village was so convinced that Hiryuu would come back to them?" Kaya nodded. "I always scoffed at this belief.  The King was dead! I thought they were naive. They just hoped the dragon claw to be of real use again, to be like Guen back in the old days. Nun used to say that his blood boiled in desire to serve. I thought that was just his personality and his admiration for his dad, but his kid also dreamed about it... That's how they were raised, I figured.

"But Kaya, maybe they realized something I couldn't, in my grief. Something only the new generations understood. Their unfulfilled blood maybe told them something mine didn't."

"I don't get it." Kaya's eyebrows shot up.

"Me neither, but I think I just realized something. Hakuryuu village and the other two, they're still standing. How long has it been? Three, four hundred years? Maybe more?" Kaya knew, more or less, but decided not to interrupt him. "No conflict has torn them apart. Even when something happens, they just move away and rebuild, and the bloodline still lives. These children, they still are born too frequently, and then die young as they pass their power to a new dragon. No more than two people can have this power at the same time for long, and that's strange.

"So I just figured, this means the dragon gods are protecting these villages, they're making sure the four bloodlines, three descendants and me, flourish and survive against all odds. And the children, if the other two bloodlines are anything like Guen's, are still subjects to the pact of their ancestors if their dragon blood still irrationally waits for servitude after centuries."

"Where are you going with this, Zeno?"

"The gods don't care for humans, Kaya. Ouryuu let me have you, but he never cared much and the other three aren't any better. You've seen—"

"Yes. I'm grateful to Ouryuu, but the others are jerks. So if they protect the villages and keep you alive as an immortal..."

"They need us. They need the Dragon Warriors. Obviously not now, but one day. But if I'm right and the oath still exists within these children, this only means..." His free hand moved to the medallion again as a reflex. His eyes glittered as much as the gold on his chest. "He's coming back to Earth. King Hiryuu! That's the explanation that makes sense the most!"

She was speechless but still squeezed his hand. It did seem logical. Cruel to make things that way, but the dragons were cruel. King Hiryuu... It felt like a stone was thrown inside her stomach. A part of her had always envied that man a little, for a devotion that seemed sometimes stronger than the love Zeno had for her, yet she couldn't help but admire him. Kouka could use that radiance again.

"But how? Why? When?"

"I don't know!!" Zeno chuckled a little too strong, unable to hide his emotions. Then he sighed. "Hell, it could take decades, centuries, millennia! But I'll be able to see one of them again. My master, my king, my friend. Can you imagine?"

Zeno let go of his crest and her hand to reach for a riceball. The jealousy in Kaya's heart couldn't stay for long. Zeno was so ecstatic that Kaya was actually in awe. He had a purpose, he wasn't just abandoned by destiny. She found that she was genuinely happy for him.

"You'll have a second chance to protect him this time, right?" she smiled as she served the tea.

"Ah, am nah sho..." He swallowed the food in his mouth. "I'm not sure, but I hope so. We don't know how things will be in the future. I might have a different role. So might he. Will he be back as a dragon, a man, or something different? Will he still be a good guy? Will he save the kingdom, destroy it, build a new one? Is he back for his people or his dra—?" He blushed and dipped the rest of the riceball in sauce. "Um, who knows. Maybe I'm getting my hopes up."

"Oh." It would be sad if the Hiryuu that returned wasn't like the person he loved in any way, but she said nothing. "Maybe you're overthinking, honey. It's true that a lot of things could happen, but... Just give it time. Don't try to imagine all possibilities at once, okay?"

"You're right." His eyes relaxed in affection for his sweet Kaya. "I just got so excited and then I bummed myself out. I'll take my time, I have plenty. The important thing is that I've been really stubborn, not understanding something that my brothers' descendants learned a long time ago. But not anymore. I'm aware now."

She nodded and bit her riceball while Zeno grabbed a second one. The flavor was wonderful, just like the new light in her ray of sunshine. She reveled on both marvels.

"So what are you gonna do now, Zeno?" she asked after they finished the meal.

"Hmmmm... Han-soo needs bonus exercises, so there's that. I want to see how the baby calf is doing later today. And we still haven't gotten a present for Zaki's birthday... Oh, when you're done with your notes, I want to spend time with you after so many days alone. Feel like singing and dancing at the pub? I feel like dancing for days."

Kaya laughed. That's not what she'd meant, but those things were important, too.

"That said," he continued, "I need to step up. If Hiryuu is coming back, I have to work harder in protecting his kingdom from now on. Let's just do our best. The plant you want to study seems so important. Educating the youth is a good, fun job for now. But I'll have to do more and more, not just that. Immortality can be a heavy curse sometimes, but we can help a lot in several ways. Besides all that?" He raised his hand to his chest, to the gift of his king. "I must be patient. After all, I'm good at waiting!"

"You are! Sounds like a great plan to me. Let's do our best!"

She grabbed his head and kissed him on the lips. He would not wait for his fate alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that domestic note and canon parallel, the main story is over! Phew! This is the first multichapter fic I finish and it took me almost a year to do so, so this is my baby. I want to thank each of you for reading and enjoying this story. You guys have given me so much with your kudos and comments. I especially have to thank [Kou](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Rietto/pseuds/Kou) since this fic was based on her idea pre-chapter 104, and for her medical research; and [Dawgy](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousrumpoflife) for being my patient beta. More short things in this AU should come slowly, or so I hope. So far I'll crosspost my short stories and extra chapters on AO3, in a same series.
> 
> I LOVE YOU ALL, AND I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ♥


End file.
